


The Rising

by MercedesLP



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: By AxJfan, Different Dimensions, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, FanFiction.Net, FianceShipping, Mystery, Not my story, OCs - Freeform, Plays in fourth Season, Romance, Secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercedesLP/pseuds/MercedesLP
Summary: Jaden has returned to his world. However, he's still hiding something from his friends. But this secret is dangerous, it could end everything.Darkness is rising...This story was written by AxJfan on Fanfiction.net.Original: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3710007/1/The-Rising
Relationships: Tenjouin Asuka | Alexis Rhodes/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki





	1. Prologue

He couldn't feel anything. Something in the back of his mind told him that that wasn't a good sign, but he had already learned that he couldn't trust his thought nowadays. It was a strange thing, feeling your body fall as if you weren't apart of it anymore, but maybe he wasn't. He could have fallen into darkness again. Maybe that would explain why he could no longer see anything…

"Jaden!"

What was that? He tried in vain to open his eyes to view whoever was talking to him. It was no use. They felt as if they weighed two tons. Sleep was beckoning to him, and he desperately wanted to just lay back and drift away. There was just too much noise.

"Jaden! Please hang in there!"

He wished that this person would just be quiet so he could sleep. Didn't he deserve that for reviving all the souls that had been destroyed on his orders and by his own hand?

"Don't Jaden, don't leave us, please!"

He wasn't going anywhere. Why was this person over-reacting? They reminded him of someone he knew… a friend perhaps? Wasn't his name Syrus?

"Jaden Yuki, you cannot die now!"

Die? Is that what is happening to me? Did I use up all my energy to open the gate?

"My king, please open your eyes and show us that they have not turned!"

King? I'm no king. Haou is the king. Haou… My eyes aren't his anymore! With a great effort, Jaden opened his eyes just a tiny bit. He saw two woman standing over him, one dressed like a nurse, the other was holding a trident and had three little fairy creatures near her head. The rest was lost in the brilliant red-white light of his gateway that should have sent them where ever they believed their home was. So why were they here by his side? When did he fall to the ground? He closed his eyes again; unable to keep them focused anymore.

"Haou hasn't taken him away from us yet," the nurse-spirit said as his eyes closed. "But he may have just destroyed his heart… I don't know if I can heal this wound."

I'm wounded? Haou… I was in the gate, watching over everyone's revivals… Yubel, Neos, Kuriboh… Wait, I remember!

He had been standing in the center of the vortex, watching his friends come back to life because of his spirit and then watching their sleeping forms return to home… some of the spirits lingered before departing, waiting for family or just thanking him quietly.

"You have to try! Please, he can't die! Not now! Not after all he's been through!"

He had felt the familiar sinister darkness before anyone else, he had acted upon instinct, drawing power from Neos, Yubel, and Winged Kuriboh who all held his hand and were glowing along with him. They had sensed his actions, but were confused because they couldn't sense Haou's presence. Then he remembered a dark vortex of energy slamming into him, red liquid clouded his vision and then he briefly felt razor sharp claws punch into his chest… but then he released his energy, crying out to everyone to leave before the gate collapsed… he had fallen as his spirit partners faded away as his energy escaped, leaving them unable to keep in solid form…

"I have to try," the other female agreed. "But without his guidance, this place could fall apart at any second."

"Then hurry!"

"Try and keep him conscious, Maiden of Aqua, if he falls into unconsciousness, we'll lose him completely!"

"Right!"

Here she said something Jaden couldn't catch, and the next thing he knew, something very cold and wet splashed against his face and cooled him off.

"Can you control that to cleanse his cuts? That would help me a great deal."

The other lady must have nodded, because the next thing he knew the dampness spread towards his chest, and then he couldn't feel it anymore.

"Thank you. Leave Jaden Yuki to me now."

Suddenly, all of the feeling came roaring back, the fire that ran through his veins and the ragged hole where his heart was. The poison that ran through his damaged heart, emitting from his own darkness, threatening to swallow his soul, mind, and body and leave the others for the deep fiery depths of hell… The pain was unforgivable; it obliterated all other thoughts and now all Judai could focus on was that he was dying. He was dying a hero's death. He was dying from pain and a broken heart.

"Jaden Yuki! Hold still! Maiden, restrain him before he hurts himself!"

Strong, cool hand wrapped around his wrists and prevented him from the thrashing that he had unconsciously been doing. He writhed and heard an ear-splitting, chilling inhuman scream that he had heard after Axel and Jim had saved him… Haou's screech that happened when Jaden had regained control of mind and body and Haou lost… It came from his mouth, confirming his worse fears. Haou really was a part of him. His darkness was Haou. He was a killer. This pain was the pain of all of those he had hunted and killed cruelly… of his friends that had been murdered by his hand… of all the families he had torn apart and the world that he had lead into darkness.

"Jaden!" an astonished voice cried.

"Jaden Yuki?! Hang in there! Don't let Haou take control! Fight him, Jaden Yuki!"

He thrashed around fiercer and with more venom now as the pain threatened to overwhelm him. He could no longer feel the water on his face or the woman kneeling over him. Something sinister was flowing into his mind, ripping him apart at a place that couldn't be reached.

"The gate! The gate is dissolving!"

"That doesn't matter! My true home is by his side now! I can't let my true king die!"

"Jaden, if you can hear me at all, if you can still be saved, use my energy to transport us all to your world, your home. Let us save you as you saved us."

He heard her, but he couldn't do anything. Every last ounce of strength he had was being sucked into the void in his heart and mind. His spirit was leaving him… at least his body would be returned home so that his friends wouldn't come into this world again to try and save him… and all of this mess would start over again. No. They would have solid proof that he was dead and beyond saving because he would be back in his home world where death couldn't be reversed. The only thing he worried about was what they would do because he was dead. He had fallen into darkness of heart because of their deaths, so would they do the same because of him? Would he tear them apart himself by his own darkness? By Haou's ways?

" _I'm not you_ _…_ " he hissed through clenched teeth. " _I won't…"_

"Jaden?"

"What did he say?"

"'I'm not you', Jaden, fight Haou! Fight!"

He pulled his last bit of strength from the deepest part of his soul to move the gate… to bring them home. To prove that he wasn't dark. This time, he wasn't going to give into Haou's presence. This time he would fight. And he would die fighting if he had too. He didn't want to hurt his friends anymore… Haou's dark grip tightened and Jaden felt every muscle in his body go into spasms before everything was obliterated completely by the pain. Now he had only one thought running through his _I'm not you, I won't give in!_

The females said something, but this time Jaden couldn't hear it. Everything was lost to him, words had no meaning. All that was left was sorrow and darkness…


	2. The Fatal Return

Chancellor Sheppard stood watching over the rough ocean from his office. He turned silently towards the Slifer Red dorm in anguish. "Jaden," was all he said.

He glanced at the clock on his desk; it was nearly noon and still nothing. Perhaps Jaden and his friends were dead. He would never know until they came back.

If they ever came back.

"Sheppard!" cried Dr. Zwenstine as he crashed into his office. "The gate… it's opening! But it's a completely different signature that before… it's almost like its living!! Come quickly and bring a doctor, we don't know if whoever is coming through is hurt or healthy!"

"What?! It may be Jaden!" Sheppard cried out. "Bring me there!"

The unlikely trio, scientist, principal, and then doctor, flew outside as fast as their legs could take them and jumped into the scientist's strange car. All the equipment was cackling and beeping as it predicted the gate's reappearance. But they didn't need that anymore.

"What the hell?!" Sheppard exclaimed.

The pillar of light was completely different. Instead of the solid white cylinder that it had been, it was red with gales of red and white light surrounding it. The pillar seemed unstable, its form wasn't cylindrical, and rather it was falling apart., as if it were bathing Academy Island in a mass of sharp piercing glass feathers. But despite the danger, it was beautiful in a haunting way.

"Go faster! We need to get there immediately!" Ms. Fontaine screamed at the driver, asserting whatever authority she had in the situation.

"I can't! The light is too bright! It will block my vision when we get closer to it and I don't want to hit anybody!" he shouted back, awed by the strange occurrences.

The pillar of light dissolved in a mass of downy before their eyes, and just as it disappeared, they could all briefly see the "ghost" of a brilliant red comet.

"Hurry," was all Sheppard could say.

* * *

She was awake.

Chazz, Hassleberry, and her brother Atticus waking up as well—she could tell by the continuous groans and the sound of Chazz's complaints. Just as she opened her hazel eyes, she felt an unexplainable urge to see Jaden. To see him and apologize for what she had said to him: Those cruel, harsh last words that had caused his eyes to go dark and pain to appear on his face… the last words that he would ever hear from his friend. What she had done was terrible.

But what he had done...

That didn't matter anymore. They were back; Jaden had somehow brought them back to life after being sacrificed in that horrible other world to fill the desires of a mad king.

She had to talk to him—no needed to talk to him, some part of her filled with the urge to see him alive and smiling, coming back from the brink of death itself, because she somehow knew that he had come very close in this latest ordeal.

Her eyes found him immediately as they always did and fell on the bright mixture of red, orange, and brown that made up his contour. Smiling, she stood and made her way over to him quickly and smoothly.

"Jaden," she started happily. Then she froze, the giddy relief vanishing from her cold desolate being as the notion that happy endings existed was ripped out from beneath her. "Jaden!"

The others must have heard the panic in her voice because they snapped up, alert and more wary of their surroundings. "Alexis? What's wrong?" they all said, looking around and seeing everyone else asleep. "Hey… how did we get back?"

But she couldn't hear their meaningless chatter. She rushed down to her knees, kneeling before him as countless others had, and grabbed him by the shoulders like no one else dared, shaking him, crying, and calling his name, unable to force herself to look at the glossy pool of red justice around him and the absolute stillness of his body. She lowered him to the forest floor, still crying hysterically, and performed rescue breathing, making Chazz stiffen with jealously out of the corner of her eye.

"Why are you kissing that—?!" he roared. Then he stopped and paled, noticing her tears and the blood that stilled the happiness of their return. His eyes traveled to Jaden's chest where the hole lay where his heart was, to the deep cut across his forehead, and then to a fading one on his arm. Then he put together all of the pieces as he was always so fond of doing and said "No" in complete disbelief. "Jaden!"

Hearing Chazz Princeton address his rival by his name must have been enough of a shock to alert the other two half-awake humans of the tragedy that had befallen them, for Atticus actually looked up from the friend he was checking on to his right to see what was wrong. And when his sight was blocked by the two distressed teens he made to voice his opinions, but was beat to the trigger by Hassleberry.

"What's wrong?" Hassleberry asked, turning towards Chazz with his eyebrows raised.

"Jaden—he's—he can't be—why?!" he hollered in shock, his normally cool demeanor lost on this dark day. "He's…"

"Jaden! No please Jaden! Wake up!" Alexis begged as she tried restarting his heart. "Don't—don't—die!"

"DIE?!" Hassleberry shouted as Alexis went down again, forcing Jaden's useless lungs to breathe. "Sergeant?! Hang in there!"

But that was all that could be done and said in their small clearing, for none of them were trained in medicine, and thus none of them could save the life of their dearest friend. None of them could save their savior, as it was meant to be, for Jaden was always the one doing the saving, and he had often said that he would die for them, and here he was completing the self-made prophecy.

Atticus rushed to Alexis' side in a futile attempt to help, but she pushed him away, clinging to Jaden's body as if it could bring him back from the black abyss he was spiraling towards. "JADEN!!" She screamed in agony. "Jaden! Don't die, please open your eyes! I'm sorry! All of those things I said to you before—I'm sorry! Please Jaden! Please!!"

The agony was just so much to bare, tearing apart at their newly reformed and now vulnerable souls as they watched their hero die before them, slowly, painfully, his eyes not even flickering to see that he had succeeded in bringing them back to life, back home. And seeing the pain of the top-female duelist on campus added to the grief, for her heart had been apparent to all but the dying hero since the day he had stepped foot on campus. But could something as fickle as teenage love weather against the laws of nature and death, could it reverse the wear of the times and the dust of oblivion that was so poised to snatch up the teen far before what they believed was his time?

"I love you! Don't die, please! I love you!"

Nothing changed.


	3. Hero or Villain?

Alexis woke with a start. She was half-laying on a hospital bed, her other half was sitting in a chair. In front of her lay Jaden, still as death. By some miracle, the hole in his chest had not destroyed his heart, it had actually been undamaged. But it went through him still, beginning in the front and ending out his back. It didn't make any sense, but had allowed Teacher Ayukawa to get his heart restarted.

But one of his lungs had been ruptured, and he couldn't breathe on his own right now. He was too fragile to take off of the island, so the surgeons had to come here instead. He had lost a lot of blood over the past few days and had to have a needle stuck in him to replenish it. He also had an IV in his other arm. His forehead was bandaged up as a result of the cut on his head. It had needed several stitches to stop the bleeding.

It was scary not knowing what was happening; the other's still hadn't woken up. And it had been two days already! They had told Chancellor Sheppard and countless others what had happened when they were still alive, and couldn't come up with a solution as to why Jaden was hurt this badly now. Chazz had suggested that Jaden had obviously finished off Bryon after they disappeared, but maybe one of Bryon's monsters had hurt him in the process.

Atticus disagreed, stating that although the duels were real, they never left and physical injuries, they just drained your stamina and health. Alexis agreed with her brother, mainly because she didn't think that Jaden could be taken down in a duel, they all knew he was very enduring and strong. She looked back at her friends and found them all looking at her as well.

"You were talking in your sleep, sis," Atticus announced. "I'm surprised you didn't wake yourself up."

Alexis gave him a hard look and stood up, stretching. Teacher Ayukawa came into view and asked them to clear out for a little while; she needed to check on Jaden's wounds. They all nodded reluctantly and trudged dismally outside of the room. They didn't say much, just leaned against the wall, absorbed too much in their own thoughts to do much else.

That's when the screaming started.

At first, Alexis rejoiced at the sound of his voice. She had been hoping to hear it for so long now that she was oblivious to the fact that he was screaming in pain. Then Hassleberry started forward and snapped her out of her stupor.

"Jaden!" he exclaimed, throwing the door open.

Teacher Ayukawa was standing over him hesitantly, trying to figure out what was wrong, while Jaden was thrashing around on his bed and screaming. Sweat was rolling down his face as he tossed and turned in agony. Alexis was the first to act. She didn't know what made her move or why her heart was threatening to break by seeing him like this, but she knew she had to help him.

She grabbed his arms, trying to force him to be still, but he was too strong for her. She was jerking along with his movements until Atticus regained enough sense to hold Jaden down as well. However, the more they tried to stop him, the more he seemed to thrash and squirm. Chazz and Hassleberry grabbed Jaden's flailing legs to stabilize him as Ayukawa checked his vitals to solve the problem.

"Jaden!" Alexis gasped. "Calm down! You're alright! There's nothing here that's going to hurt you!"

She was thrown off of him when he twisted unexpectedly and she landed next to the sink with a resounding crash. The water gave her an idea though. She turned on the sink and grabbed a cup, filling it to the brim, and then dashed over to Jaden. Unorthodoxly, she tossed the entire contents of the cup onto his face in a vain attempt at snapping him out of it.

She watched as his entire body bristled, and then collapsed moaning terribly. His tossed a little more, but not a violently as he had before, so the boys were able to restrain him successfully until he was still.

"Good thinking Ms. Rhodes!" Ayukawa praised from the charts.

Alexis sank back down in her chair by Jaden's side, unable to tear her eyes away from his tortured face. "What's wrong with him?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. He was fine until a second ago. Then he went into what was almost like a state of panic and, well, pain. I know that there are several reasons for the pain, but panic?"

"Jaden," Alexis whispered tenderly, closing her eyes. "Jaden, what is wrong with you? What are you afraid of?"

"Darkness."

Alexis' eyes flew open as someone responded to her. She spun around in her chair to see Jim and his Crocodile, Karin, staring at Jaden in concern. "Jim!" Alexis squeaked in relief. "Thank goodness you're awake! You've had us worried."

"You don't need to be worrying about me," he said, tipping his hat towards her.

"What do you mean by 'Darkness'?" Chazz demanded, impulsive as ever.

"Jaden didn't exactly have it easy when you guys turned into light," Jim responded. He briefly recalled Syrus' words towards Jaden and then himself trying to talk to Jaden at his friend's graves, but Jaden had been unresponsive as he was now. "Then he went missing. Axel and I went looking for him all throughout the forest." Here he told them about meeting an old man and his grandson and learning that the Supreme King (Haou) was hunting duelists, so if they wanted to find their friend, odds were he was at Supreme King's castle. Then he told them of their trip to the man's village and then to the castle where they found it was empty as Haou and his army had already left to attack the South side. Jim told them of the destruction of the village and all of the people and duelists and Burgundy's last words before dying. He warned them that Haou was too strong, that they should run. "So naturally I ran over to the other side of the mountain and yelled at Haou that I wouldn't forgive him for what he had done. Then I challenged him to a duel."

"Is that how you died?" Hassleberry interrupted.

Everyone shot him hostile glances except of Jim. "Don't interrupt!" was written all over their faces. Hassleberry flinched and Jim continued on.

His face was full of sorrow as he retold his story. "He responded to me… 'That challenge, I'll take it,"-he said this in a cold voice for emphasis, but couldn't quite manage it. "That's when both me and Axel realized we had heard that voice before."

Something foreboding seemed to grip over the group, Ayukawa gasped in astonishment. Alexis shivered and her hand found Jaden's. She gripped it tightly with no response from him at all.

Jim cast his eye without the bandages onto her and Jaden finishing sadly, "He then lifted his mask and showed us who he was… He was a dear friend… He was Jaden."

"WHAT?!" roared Hassleberry and Chazz at the same time.

"But… why?" Atticus gasped, astonished, staring at Jaden's pain filled face. "He may have been rushing himself, but he's not evil!"

"He wouldn't destroy all of those people, families, lives, spirits," Asuka snarled with such venom that she surprised Jim. "Jaden is a good person with a gentle heart! He's- he's not _dark!_ "

"Alexis, let me finish, please," Jim answered, cutting them all off. "Jaden wasn't himself at all. His eyes,"-here Jim shivered slightly-"weren't his own… if that makes any sense. They were a yellow-gold, cold, and emotionless. I forgot about my challenge and persisted in demanded an explanation. Haou's direct followers appeared before us and tortured us right before those cold, uncaring eyes. Jaden didn't do anything to stop them. He just turned his back to us and walked away."

Jim paused in silence here, letting his words sink in.

Alexis was looking at Jaden with fierce concentration. She couldn't see him in dark armor, killing hundreds, or ruling by force. Jaden wasn't dark! "But…," Alexis weakly stated. Then she remembered the card that had started all of this. "Yubel!" she hissed. "This is his entire fault! He must have done something to Jaden!! He must have!"

"If you went back far enough in Jaden's past you could pin it all on Yubel, I suppose," Jim agreed. "Although I don't know exactly what happened to him that made him fall into darkness of heart, I knew that it wasn't Jaden acting," Jim continued. He told them about his other eye, his Orichalcum Eye, that he had gained as a child and when the time came, he could use it to gather the power of the red comet and create a miracle to save his friend. "After I told Axel my story, I returned to Haou's castle and challenged him. On Jaden's first turn, his used 'Dark Fusion' to create Evil-Hero Winged Inferno." Jim described the first turn and then his own next one where he destroyed her twice. "Jaden looked up at me, and his eyes were brown again." Alexis actually sighed in relief, what was wrong with her? Jim cast Alexis a sad glance. "I did the same thing, Alexis. They immediately turned back to yellow. That made me realized that Jaden's heart was seriously hurt."

He continued to describe breaking into Jaden's mind and seeing him kneeling in the center of the mirrored darkness with dead yellow eyes, confused with himself and in pain over what had happened to his friends. Then Haou spoke to Jaden, depressing his heart even more and telling him that to defeat an evil, he must become evil himself. "I tried to talk to him then, but we were forced out of Jaden's mind and returned to the duel." Jim summarized the rest of the duel down to the end where he had almost gotten through to Jaden, but ended up being killed when Haou prevailed.

"I asked Axel to finish the job for me, to save Jaden. Then I don't know what happened for awhile until Axel did fight Jaden again. "I was just there in spirit because of my eye, but I could see that Jaden's soul was almost completely gone. He was being consumed by the dark aura of Haou. Axel finally saw that it was still Jaden, even though only at heart, and he fought back with a vengeance. He launched his last attack on Haou, but he activated Super Fusion again to win the duel. Then Axel played his last move, a card that makes them both take equal damage. While the arena was engulfed in the explosion, Axel ran through it and placed my eye over Jaden's heart. Haou screamed with rage and pain until his voice turned back to Jaden's. I broke into Jaden's darkness one more time and shattered all of the mirrors. Jaden finally lost consciousness and fell into my arms so I could bring him back. That's the last thing I know other than Axel died as a result of this duel."

A ringing silence fell on the group as they stared at Jaden in distress. Alexis gripped Jaden's hand all the tighter. _Am I in love with a hero… or a villain?_


	4. Hinting of Danger

A week later with everyone awake, Jaden was successfully breathing on his own again. Now it was the middle of the night that his strokes/spasms happened for the hundredth time. This time, Alexis was the only one awake, and she didn't want to wake anyone else up. His screams pierced her heart like nails and all she could do was stroke his hand with her thumb while she held it.

After a few seconds, she started singing gently, smiling when she thought that maybe she **_was_** related to Atticus after all. She absently stroked Jaden's hair out of his face as she calmed him and was surprised when the crushing pressure that her hand had been enduring because of Jaden's pain lessened and he relaxed completely.

In the darkness, everything was lost to him. He had no name, no memory other than that _he wasn't the darkness and he will not give into it_. The darkness surrounded him, torturing his mind and body until it left him gasping on his knees, unable to kill him unless it wanted to die as well. So he endured this living hell for people that he couldn't remember, just knowing that he wouldn't hurt them again. And now the darkness had returned, tearing at him with mental talons and slicing through his resolve and striking him into submission… until he heard her voice. From one of the mirrors that had been reforming over the days, he heard the voice calling to him and he looked up from his torture and saw an angel.

She had long golden hair and clear hazel eyes that were so full of concern… and something else that the darkness couldn't understand. She was singing to him a sad song and looking at him with that strong emotion in her eyes. Whatever that was, it was so powerful that the darkness fled from her presence and the other mirrors shattered until he was alone with her image. With the darkness gone from his mind, he recognized the emotion in her eyes that had just saved him, love. An angel was in love with him. He felt a light tingling on his left hand and observed it earnestly. It felt like someone was holding it. Was she? He experimented by unclenching his fists to see if anything happened.

The angel stopped singing and looked down at her unseen hand. She smiled a warm radiant smile that caused his cold heart to skip a beat and thaw. He couldn't look away from her beautiful eyes, and she couldn't seem to look away from him. Could she see him through the mirror? Or was she just seeing his body lying hurt and defenseless? She was still smiling at him. Then she closed her eyes and hummed gently, soothing his wounds and soul until he was finally floating peacefully along…

"Alexis…"

Alexis opened her hazel eyes, starting to turn towards her brother to respond. But he was still asleep next to her. Nothing had changed. Who had said her name? There was a light laugh that sent her heart into her throat out of longing. "Jaden!"

He was looking up at her with his deep brown eyes, a slight smile on his face. "Hey."

"Hey," she breathed, blushing with the passion in her voice. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, his eyelids drooping like he was about to fall asleep.

"Can you remember anything?" She asked, hoping that he said that he couldn't remember the pain.

"Some of it… not most… I was in darkness… then… something happened," he frowned as he tried to remember. His eyes closed and Alexis started.

"Jaden?"

"Still here…"

She sighed in relief. "I was worried. Jim and Axel said… things about you."

"Darkness… Haou right?" Jaden whispered.

Her heart went cold.

"…… I-I hurt a lot of people… and killed Jim and Axel," he choked out like it hurt him.

"Jaden, it's alright. Everyone's here again. We're back."

"Good, that's good," Jaden whispered, sounding like he was near sleeping. "I thought that when I was hurt-the gate was broken…"

"What gate? How did you get hurt? Jaden?" Alexis gasped, completely besides herself and increasing the level of her voice. Ayukawa stirred beside her. Alexis shook her gently saying, "He's awake!"

"Gate… in the gate," Jaden tiredly repeated, cracking open his eyes. "Two spirits helped me…One called me 'king' but I'm not a king… She tried to heal…"

"Jaden?" Ayukawa commanded, snapping into reality.

Jaden's eyes weren't focused anymore. "Lex?"

"I'm right here Jaden," she said, stressing her words.

He sounded like he was convincing her of something important. "I'm not dark, I promise."

She let out a slight sob, so relieved to hear her fears abashed by him that tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I know Jaden, I've always known."

His eyes were concerned before they fluttered shut. "Why… crying?"

"Because I'm happy to see you is all."

He laughed quietly before falling silent and breathing deeply.

"He's asleep," Ayukawa smiled. "He's very strong, Alexis, he'll be alright in no time."

She nodded and whipped the tears from her eyes, slightly embarrassed. "What I don't understand is how he can sleep after not being awake for a week!"

Her teacher nodded smiling as she looked down at Alexis' and Jaden's intertwined hands.

Jaden was in the hospital for another week, waking up on and off each day for no more than a few minutes. There were signs of improvement as the week stretched on though. Alexis marked the first official one when Chazz, who had been the one talking to Jaden after he woke up, let out a roar of frustration and tossed the covers over Jaden's hair. Jaden was chuckling from under the sheets. Alexis repressed a smile for Chazz's sake; it seemed that Jaden was back in the habit of teasing him, that was a good sign.

Alexis fell asleep one night by his side, holding his hand absently while she half heard Chazz fuming in the background, and when she woke up, he was sitting up and reading over one of the seemingly hundreds of get well cards that surrounded his bed. He was smiling so gently and he looked so serene in this light that she found she couldn't look away. She was enraptured by the calm in his eyes and the way his brown hair fell across his face, and she was confused as to why she had never noticed how attractive he was to her.

He was moving slowly and cautiously, being careful not to wake her, she realized, as he placed the card back and looked back at her. Her eyes instinctively clasped shut, and Jaden didn't seem to notice, because she felt his smooth hand brush a lose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. She smiled and could almost see him smile too.

Jaden's health increased over the next few days and he was soon back in his dorm with the rest of the gang, celebrating their return to Earth. Chancellor Sheppard was there as well, he seemed to be twenty years younger after seeing that all of his students were back and safe. Half-way through the party Jaden broke away from the bulk of the crowd and stood with his hands folded across his chest, staring out at the ocean with an expressionless face. Alexis was the first to notice him, and broke away from Chazz to check on him. She didn't like that blank look.

She walked up so that she was standing to his right, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes. He was still looking outward at the sea with his eyes in conflict, as if he was in an argument.

"Jaden?" Alexis asked.

He turned towards her with what looked like a great effort. "Yeah?"

"Why don't you come back to the party?" She wondered, trying to put together the right words for her foreboding feeling.

He smiled at her, sending her heart on frenzy. "I'm kind of in two minds about the party… After everything that happened… I just don't feel like my hearts completely in it right now… I'm still feeling guilty to be honest."

She was surprised by how honest he was being with her. He had never really been straightforward when he was feeling down or what it was that made him feel like that. "Jaden, you shouldn't feel guilty. You saved us all."

"I didn't say that I _should_ feel guilty, I just said that I am," Jaden snapped coldly, shocking his friend. He regretted saying this the second it was out of his mouth. It wasn't Alexis' fault. "Lex, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you… I'm just sort of;"-he searched for the appropriate word and failed-"I've just got a lot on my mind lately."

She surprised him by taking his hand gently. He recoiled and warmed to her touch at the same time, making his face turn red with embarrassment at his indecision and Alexis cast her eyes away from him to avoid letting him see her disappointment. She let her hand drop out of his, but Jaden caught it before to slipped out of his.

Alexis looked down at their clasped hands and looked back at Jaden who finally met her gaze. He tried to smile at her, but couldn't quite manage his usually grin. He wasn't sure if he could be with her. Atticus chose that moment to burst in on them and drag the pair back into the party. The entire time, Alexis' eyes never left Jaden's face and his never dropped the indecision.

Thoughts were raging through Jaden's head. Not the normal heart vs. mind moment exactly. It was more the opposite. Jaden knew he loved Alexis, even someone like him couldn't deny that after his experience with Haou… but he wasn't sure at heart if he should act upon it.

 _You know that you shouldn't,_ his heart told him.

I know… but I love her… and she loves me, I'd only be hurting her if I lied, he argued back.

_And you wouldn't hurt her the other way?_

I don't know what'll happen.

_Yes you do. You've known it all along. You just haven't told anyone else._

I'll tell her… I have to.

_No you don't! Don't drag her into this if you really love her, you know she'll just get hurt!_

She'll understand why I can't be with her if I tell her…

_She'll still insist on being with you, you know that._

Yeah, Jaden admitted. She can't help it though. That's just how Lex is.

 ** _Well then you have stubbornness in common._** That last comment was from Haou, and definitely didn't help at all. ****

_Oh, shut-up,_ Jaden snapped, in agreement about that at least.


	5. The Old Argument

And what happened next was school history. Alexis Rhodes and Jaden Yuki started going out. No one seemed to know exactly how it started, one day the pair had walked into class, holding hands, and the news spread like wildfire. At first, the Obelisk students weren't at all happy with their 'queens' decision. They gradually grew to accept the pair when they remembered that Jaden _was_ the top duelist in school, even if his grades weren't. The school decided to 'watch and evaluate' for now.

The two people in question were down at the beach with Jesse, Jim, Syrus, and Hassleberry.

"So Jay," Syrus said, only his head visible seeing as Hassleberry had successfully buried him in the sand.

"Hmm?" Jaden answered. He was lying in the sand a few feet away with Alexis in his arms.

"What do you think about the senior trip to Nhime Village tomorrow?" Syrus asked. "It sounds like fun… but two days on the boat!? That's suicide."

Jaden laughed, "Sy, it'll be fun! Nhime Village's pretty… um… interesting." He sounded like he chose the last word very carefully. Alexis immediately picked that up.

"Have you been there?" she wondered, sitting up so that he had to squint in the sunlight to see her.

"Yeah, I've got two crazy cousins that live down there." He said this almost reluctantly. Once again, Alexis picked up his tone.

"Are they why it's so 'interesting'?" she smiled, knowing his answer.

_Not in the least,_ Jaden thought. _It'll be interesting to see what happens when I get near there now with Haou…_ He had been thinking very carefully about his predicament with the King's spirit. After Alexis had unknowingly saved him, Haou had found himself unable to control Jaden in the least, so long as he was still in love with her anyway. He could, however, haunt Jaden with nightmares of his actions when he was sleeping, but that was the worst. Or it would be until they reached Nhime. He frowned vaguely as he remembered his first, and what he had half-hoped would be his last, visit to Nhime…

"Serge?" Hassleberry echoed from the water. "Whatsamatter?"

Jaden surface from the unpleasant memory to find Alexis staring at him avidly. He hadn't answered her question. "Nothing!" he called out to the waves. "Just thinking!"

"Like that'll ever happen," came a rude remark as Chazz walked down to the beach, and sat next to them. "Jaden Yuki thinking? That's as likely as a hippo learning ballet."

"Shut-up Chazz," Alexis answered before Jaden could retort.

Chazz looked as if he had been slapped. "C'mon Alexis, we all know he's not the brightest."

"And we all know that I still ended up with Alexis instead of you," Jaden finished, starting to get annoyed by Chazz. This was the fiftieth time today that he had pestered them like this! "So would you accept that already?"

Jaden saw Jesse raise his eyebrows in surprise, but it got the desired effect. Chazz shut up.

"So, like I was saying…"

"Oh," Jaden said, preoccupied. He chose to lie through his teeth. "Yeah, the two of them always make things pretty hectic down there."

He chatted with her about his crazy cousins until she was satisfied with his answer. Most of the stories being about Melody because he wasn't ready to talk about Nick yet… Last time they had spoken they had nearly blown the village off the face of the Earth… if it hadn't been for Melody…

** Flashback: (Jaden's POV)  **

_Nick was inches away from my face, his eyes that violent shade of purple … I was standing in the middle of Melody's backyard, only seven years old, Nick was eight, Melody was five. Sparks were emitting from Nick's body, he had given into the power long ago. The sky turned dark as storm clouds appeared out of nowhere. Lightning flashed, raining fire from the churning sky._

_I was half-conscious of Melody's screams, but it didn't matter to anymore. Nick was going to die. He had to. If I didn't…_

_"Why are you holding back Jay?" he taunted his voice low and deadly. He was trying to get me angry, trying to make me lose control completely. He was and idiot. "Are you afraid of what you are?"_

_I was. Mainly for the sake of others. If I lost control here, now, it would all be over. If I couldn't stop Nick… "Listen to me," my voice surprised me. It was so cold and harsh, so much worse than Nick's even though I was younger and in partial control. Melody's screeches came to a halt when I spoke._

_"Let it go Nick," I warned him. "Fight it off before I have to kill you." Once again, I surprised myself. I hadn't realized just how deep my hatred went._

_"You?! Kill me?!" Nick howled, his maniacal laughter carrying in the violent winds. "Just try." He raised his hands and an invisible force knocked me over. That was it. I lost control._

_"Jaden, NO!" Melody screamed, running at me. I was charged with energy, so much_ power _that I craved for more… Then I felt as if I was falling…_

_Then next thing I knew I was standing near a crater in the yard, the sky turned to normal as I felt something on my arm. It was Melody._

_I tried to talk to her, but everything was spinning. My head felt as if I had been hit by a truck as I watched her clinging onto my arm. I remembered collapsing… Nick was on his side staring at me in horror…_

Jaden suppressed that vivid memory with difficulty. It was one of his worst. He inwardly cringed when he remembered the look of pure terror on Nick's face…

He stroked Alexis's hair lightly, masking his struggle with the memory inside him.

They had to dig Syrus out after the sun started setting and Hassleberry dumped a huge bucket of water on Sy's head, successfully making him stick in the beach.

Jaden decided not to dwell on telling Alexis his secret until the last possible second, even though his conscious was screaming in protest. He had plenty of time… three days… He hoped that would be enough.

_No it won't._

Shut-up.

"Jaden!" Jesse laughed.

"Huh?" he replied, coming out of his stupor. Then he felt something crawling up his back, something with sharp little legs and snapping claws. He screamed smacking the crab off his back with enthusiasm as it somehow managed to get a claw on his ear so that it was hanging there like an earring. " _Ouch! GETITOFF!"_ he yelled in quick succession that it was all one word.

Alexis was doubled over in laughter along with Jesse. Hearing Alexis made him feel guilty for a second, then the crab scuttled into his hair and he was running along the beach with Hassleberry chasing him, trying to get the stupid thing off.

In the forest next to them, a shaded figure watched the entire display with glowing green eyes. It smirked, making a sinister sound that stopped them all in their tracks. Jaden was deathly white as the crab fled into the ocean. The others had stopped laughing and were looking around, alarmed. Jaden watched all of this and it was like his brain had jammed. He couldn't think of anything other that _he wasn't supposed to be here yet!! He wasn't supposed to be here yet!!_

The sky turned dark. Jaden tensed, his entire body charged with fear. _He wasn't supposed to be here yet!!_ He was sweeping the trees with his brown eyes, relying on Haou's night vision to spot it. His eyes picked up the figure and he sighed in relief, causing weird looks from his friends. _It wasn't him. Just some stupid messenger. Like he'd forget what he told him._

**_And you very well may want to listen,_** Haou pointed out.

_Shut-up!_ Jaden spat.

"What in the name of Sam Hell is going on here?" Hassleberry demanded, in the general direction of Jaden. "Who turned out the lights?"

" _Darkness and Light will clash,"_ the messenger hissed so Jaden was the only one who could here. " _You have angered him, Yuki. You have chosen a different path, an unwise decision."_

"What's that whispering?" Jim quietly ventured, sightless eye turning in all directions.

_"Shut it,"_ Jaden hissed back. " _Tell him he can stuff his stupid path up his-!"_

_"_ ENOUGH!" she shouted, causing everyone but Jaden to leap back. They turned wildly in whatever direction they thought the sound came from. Her voice dropped dangerously. " _You will regret this Jaden. He knew that you would react in this way… it's only fitting that he gave me more than just a message to give you."_

Her words made him incredibly nervous. "Gave you more-?" he murmured, realizing a split second before she raised her hand what was going to happen. "Shit!" he swore. "Get down!"

He heard his friend immediately dive down, alarmed that he had sworn, as a huge blast of light swept over them, passing harmlessly over their bodies and hitting the ocean instead. There was a loud hiss and they all turned, panic-stricken, to watch twenty feet of water evaporate instantly. If that would have touched them…

**_She did what she had to do. You're the one who is putting them in danger by remaining in this world instead of hers,_** Haou coldly answered.

_Oh yeah, and going into her world wouldn't destroy the rest of the world? Thanks for Evil 101 lessons, Haou,_ Jaden sarcastically responded.

Jaden turned back to the messenger, livid, and she gave him a smile, revealing her pointed teeth. She stepped towards his friends with another ball of light as Jaden scooped up his duel disk in the sand and skidded in front of them all in one motion. He deployed the duel disk, blinking in the faint red light. The figure stepped forward again revealing her body in a black cloak and a large backpack on her back. She was showing her pointed teeth again in her sneer.

"So you want to play do you?" she sneered. A flash of red light and a duel disk appeared on her arm. Jaden almost collapsed with shock. The girl deployed the dark duel disk and the blades spun around violently before fitting into place. She had somehow received Haou's disk.

She was smiling haughtily at him, with a knowing look in her green eyes.

How does s _he_ know about _that_?!

His friends, who couldn't see at all, were fumbling around on the beach for their duel disks for some light. The girl watched them with her night eyes in a bored way. "I don't understand why you would protect them… They are so _human_."

"And I'm not?" Jaden flared. Haou smirked.

"You are… for now," she was smirking at him again.

"So are you," Jaden said this quietly so his friends couldn't hear. "He can't change that. No matter how twisted your mind and body are, you're still human. Why don't you understand that?"

She narrowed her eyes. "The old argument. I have no time for that. My orders are to give you his message. And to get rid of those ridiculous pets of yours."

"They're my friends!" Jaden shouted. "And I won't let you hurt them!"

"Very well, but if I win, then you will not stop me."

Jaden bit back his retort. "Fine. When I win, you'll leave us alone. And I mean all of us." He gestured towards the school. The messenger nodded.

"Understood, at least until the sun rises on a new day."

They drew their five cards and called, "Duel!"


	6. Messenger

"I'll go first!" the messenger announced, drawing a card. She smirked and showed her sharp teeth again. "I'll play Shadow's Servant in defense mode (Atk: 800 Def: 1200) and I'll place one card face down. Your move."

"Shadow's Servant? I've never heard of that card before," Jim announced from the beach floor.

"That's because it comes from another, more powerful, world, human scum," she gave him a glare of pure hatred and then turned towards Jaden, waiting.

"Draw!" Jaden said, not in the mood for his normal banter. He drew Elemental Hero Clayman. He smiled as he looked at the other cards in his hand. "First I'll activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" Jaden looked intently at the new cards.

"Next, I'll play the spell card polymerization in order to fuse Clayman and Burstinatrix in my hand to form… Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster!" Jaden ordered.

Rampart Blaster appeared on the field in defense mode. She looked towards the messenger and aimed her blaster. (Atk: 2000, Def: 2500)

"She's got a sweet ability too; she can attack your life points directly as long as she gives up half of her attack points! (Atk: 1000) Show her Blaster!"

She launched her attack on the messenger, who was thrown back against a tree as a result of losing 1000 points. Jaden peered at her with dread. "Is this-?" he started.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Real. Not a shadow game. Just a real fight. But don't worry; people _hardly ever_ die during these matches." Her grin said the opposite.

Jaden grimaced and placed two cards face down.

Messenger: 3000

Jaden: 4000

She smiled as she drew her card. "I activate my face down, black veil, which allows me to destroy all monsters on the field and you take 200 points of damage for each. Also, it allows me to summon two shadow tokens for each monster destroyed."

The field was engulfed in an explosion that pushed Jaden back a few feet. His friends called out, alarmed for him. "I'm alright," he assured them, rubbing his throbbing chest as his life points went down to 3600.

"You won't be for long because now I can sacrifice my two tokens in order to bring out," she screeched with obvious glee, "Shadow Dragonling!"

The two shapeless shadows that had appeared on her field (Atk: 0 Def: 0) vanished and a woman with dragon-wings, a tail, and talons appeared on the field. She was jet black with wild red hair and eyes. Jaden shivered slightly as he sensed the darkness in that card. (Atk:? Def: 3000)

"If you were curious about her attack points, she receives 500 for each card in our graveyards. And I believe that's eight," the messenger snarled.

Shadow Dragonling's attack points increased to 4000. She was giving Jaden a searching look, and he knew why, but he didn't respond to her. He wouldn't let her see his dormant power.

**_It isn't exactly dormant anymore. I can feel it. It screams for release, can you not feel it? Or do you deny it?_ **

_All I feel is an annoying evil spirit that won't shut-up._

**_Jaden, your power will be released eventually. Whether or not it builds up from disuse, or you set it free. Either way, it will happen. That is reality in both of our worlds._ **

"I was disappointed; I thought you would've posed a better challenge. Now go! Shadow Dragonling! Attack him directly and end this!"

Jaden snapped back to the game immediately. "Not so fast, I activate my face down, Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!"-His furry brown monster appeared on the field- "And then I'll activate Transcendent Wing! By tossing out two cards, Winged Kuriboh becomes a level ten monster!"

A huge light engulfed the arena as Kuriboh blocked Shadow Dragonling's attack. "And then by sacrificing himself, your monster is destroyed and you lose life points equal to your destroyed monster's attack points!"

"What?! No?!" the messenger screamed as her monster exploded into a wall of fire and her life points drained down to zero. She stood her ground though, and Jaden was impressed with that much. _Thanks Kuriboh,_ he thought softly. Kuriboh nodded before vanishing. The messenger was still screeching into the night. The sunlight finally burst through and temporarily blinded everyone. Alexis started to race towards Jaden, who waved at her cheerily to show he was alright.

"Master! Master! I am sorry! Forgive me!!" the messenger cried.

_Take the boy…_

Jaden froze half-way through his wave and the messenger cringed, being the only ones who could hear the cold, harsh, and cruel voice. She turned slowly to face him in a sinister way that made Alexis stop in her tracks with the sudden fear that radiated from the girl as black dragon-wings spread out from what they had assumed was a backpack. The girl had thick talons, like her card, but no tail. The next thing he knew, the girl had flapped her wings and grabbed him around the neck with her talons.

Jaden spluttered and coughed as she strangled him, finding a leathery wing that spread around him like a cocoon. He grabbed it and yanked it hard. The girl shrieked and released him, clutching her wing as if his touch had burned her. He tumbled the sand, coughing still as Alexis stood in front of him protectively, as the dragon girl was livid. She flew into the air and looped back down faster than the human eye could see and lifted Jaden from behind Alexis.

He was torn from the ground by the force and stolen into the air because of the girl's grip on him. "Yubel!" Jaden choked out, refusing to allow his power to break free. His spirit appeared in solid form next to them and slashed his enemy's wings. The girl dropped him and Yubel caught him, trying to lower him safely to the ground, but the girl was in hot pursuit. "Neos!"

His alien friend burst from his deck in a blast of light and sent a beam of energy at the dragon girl. She spun out of the way and dragged Neos down with her, crashing him into the sand below. Yubel was unable to defend herself while carrying Jaden, so she set him down on the beach and used her supernatural powers to create a shield around them. The dragon girl crashed into the shield and was thrown back, where Neos rammed into her and sent the demon flying away into the waves, screeching.

Yubel lowered her shield, but did not vanish, keeping a wary eye on the sea. Neos did likewise, worried about the creatures return. "Jaden?" Hassleberry called, walking up to him and eyeing the monsters nervously. "Why are they real?"

Jaden caught his breath after a second. "I dunno. After we came back… they could appear real when they were near me."

They accepted that they had all seen weirder things happen around Jaden before. Boy, were they in for a surprise.

"Are you alright?" that was Alexis, helping him to his feet.

"Yeah," he sighed, rubbing his bruised shoulder. But he wasn't. "I've been through worse." That could have been _a lot_ worse. Compared to what's coming, that was just a friendly tea-party.

Alexis frowned, showing her uncanny ability to read him like a book. "Are you sure?"

"Jaden." That was Jim, pulling Syrus completely out of the sand. "That thing—why did it have Haou's duel disk?"

He could answer that question honestly. "I have no clue. It freaked me out a bit," he admitted.

Syrus was looking at his friend carefully. Jaden imagined him briefly in the cloak that he had worn in the other world, but then repressed the memory.

"Jay," he said slowly. "How could you see her?"

Jaden froze. He looked at Syrus in what he hoped was an innocent face, cursing that his friend was so observant now. He cast around for an answer that wouldn't mention Haou or his secret, but found none. Everyone was looking at him now. He opened his mouth to answer, sighed instead, and answered them with a partial truth, "I saw someone in the trees before everything went dark. She was pretty close to me. I figured that someone who made that weird noise couldn't be good… so when I saw that light thing… I assumed it was a weapon. The light illuminated my duel disk and after that I could see enough with the red light." His voice was steady. He was a well practiced liar.

His answer made sense, and his friends accepted it grudgingly, but his girlfriend didn't. She grabbed his arm as they all started to walk away and held him back. She waited until the others were out of earshot and then she forced him to sit in the sand with her. When he refused to make eye-contact, she gently moved his chin with her hand until their eyes met.

"Tell me what just happened. And no more lies," she firmly commanded.

****

He was the biggest-effing-liar in the worlds. What had possessed him to blame this all on that pathetic spirit Haou?! Did he really expect her to believe that he was **that** weak?!?!!? _Why the hell couldn't he tell her the truth?!!?_ _WHY HAD HE SAID HAOU?!_

He had been ready to tell her the _real_ truth when she asked, but out of his mouth came yet another lie. A perfect lie. All of the pieces had fit, _but he had wanted to tell her!!_ He had said the servant was Haou's. He told her about Haou's presence in his mind still. It fit. The Dragon girl told them her deck came from another world. So did Haou. The Dragon girl looked like a Dark-World monster. Haou came from the Dark-World. The darkness that had overcome them wasn't unlike the one Haou cast over the other world.

_Why the hell did he have to be such a good liar! If she had known… just the tiniest thing about him… she wouldn't have believed the words that had tumbled out of his mouth. He had said that he was fighting for control with darkness. Darkness couldn't overtake him if he didn't allow it. Even when he was dark, they had no idea how hard he was fighting to prevent Haou from… how bitterly he had fought over control... how Haou had felt the sinister presence in his mind and manipulated it enough to take over his body… but he did not allow Haou to go any farther…if they knew what he could… his secret… she wouldn't have believed him. She wouldn't be in danger and ignorant. She would know…_


	7. Here we go again, or not?

Alexis was wandering blindly back to her dorm.

_Jaden was still fighting Haou…_

She fumbled around with that thought in her mind, confused. It all fit from what she knew about Haou, which wasn't a lot. Jaden never really talked about their experience in the Dark World.

 _I should talk to Jim and Axel. Maybe even Syrus. I don't think Jaden will like it that I told them, but he has to trust us. We can help him,_ she thought avidly. Then a horrible reality occurred to her. _What if he's still lying? He understands now that we are only here to help him, and that he can trust us. So why wouldn't he tell us about this? Something that could lead us all into danger? He's still lying! He has to be!_

She whirled around, rushing back to the beach and hoping that he was still there. He wasn't. She ran through the forest and into the Slifer dorm. A very shocked Syrus told her that they thought he was still with her and asked why she needed him. She told them and watched his eyes expand with shock. Hassleberry and Jesse jumped out of their chairs and agreed to go searching for him.

Alexis was with Jesse, searching in the forest as Syrus and Hassleberry combed that campus. She pushed vines blindly aside and called her lungs out. "JADEN!! JADEN!!"

"Jay! JADEN!" Jesse called beside her, looking around through the brush. "What?"

He stopped suddenly and looked at his shoulder. Alexis glanced back at him, confused. "He's where?" Jesse was saying, looking as if he was talking to his shoulder. "Show us Ruby!"

He took off running and Alexis decided she should follow, finally getting that that was his spirit friend, like Jaden's Kuriboh. They burst out into a clearing where a very surprised looking Jaden greeted them.

"Where's the fire?" he supplied weakly. He sounded angry.

Alexis charged right into him and knocked him over. She was on top of him, inches from his face so that he couldn't look away. "What are you doing?!" he demanded, completely nonplussed.

"Why did you lie?!" she responded, staring at him with what she hoped was an angry face. He froze with a look of mixed admirance and annoyance.

"What are you talking about?" As soon as he said that, Alexis saw him seem to get angry at himself. But why?

"You _lied!_ I figured that much out! I was stunned when you told me, which is what made me believe you!"-A bemused expression crossed his face-"But now I realize that through all of this, you've made one thing clear!"

Jaden was curious in spite of himself. "What's that?"

"That you can trust us! You told me that day when we got together! You said that when I admitted I was worried about you! You told me that 'If Haou ever somehow slinks his way back into my mind, this time I've got friends who can help me.' You are lying about Haou! Tell me the truth! If you really love me as much as you say you do, you'll tell me!"

Jesse was hovering uncertainly at the edge of the clearing, almost as stunned as Jaden.

"Alexis-I…" Jaden started, looking slightly hurt now. "I…" -he took a deep breath.

 _BRIIIIINNNNNG!_ Alexis flew off of Jaden, startled by the loud noises that came from hers, Jesse's, and Jaden's pockets. They all simultaneously picked up their PDA's and turned them on. Chancellor Sheppard's face appeared on the screens, saying the exact same thing so that it echoed off of the forest's trees. "I need you students again. This is an emergency. Come as soon as you receive this message. The fate of our school may depend on it." His face was very grave before the message ended. They glanced at each other and then started sprinting towards the school, barely noticing anything else.

They stumbled into Sheppard's office and saw everyone else waiting for them: Aster, Jim, Axel, Syrus, Hassleberry, Chazz, Bastion, Atticus, and even Zane. Syrus and Hassleberry made movements that obviously meant they wanted to talk to Jaden, but he ignored them, glancing towards the Chancellor again, his face emotionless. Sheppard gazed into the panting student's faces until he sighed heavily and spoke to them.

"You students have always been there when the school, or even the world, was in danger. You helped defeat many foes and saved many lives."-His eyes were lingering slightly on Jaden, who held the gaze steadily-"And I'm afraid that once again, the school is being threatened."

The students and pros were silent, waiting for him to continue. "As you probably know, just before twilight today, a blanket of darkness spread over the island-!"

"Yeah!" Syrus put in. "We were there! We saw who caused it and Jaden dueled it!"

Sheppard looked at Jaden curiously. "Is there anything strange about that person?"

"Yep," Jaden answered. "She was half-dragon! She had huge black wings and talons and tried to strangle me after I beat her. Her deck comes from another world, she told us. And she has a really dangerous light thing that-."

"Almost killed us," Alexis finished, glaring at Jaden again. Sheppard looked confused, but he continued nonetheless.

"They left a message," he whispered, pointing at the doors behind them. They turned and gasped. There, written on the door in shadowy handwriting read,

_The time of the Shadows is coming. Everyone shall be lost, all of them._

_Unless he comes back to Evermore to fly._

They all looked confused now. Well, everyone except for Jaden, who paled considerably. Alexis caught that slight sign and grabbed him by the jacket. Although he was now a few inches taller than her, it still had a desired affect. Jaden looked slightly spooked and Atticus _bravely,_ took ten steps back. Zane and Aster observed them carefully as Alexis pulled Jaden closer to her, yelling right into his face.

"WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!"

Jaden glared at her and opened his mouth to retort, but Alexis released him and slapped him across the face. The gang and Sheppard stared at her. Jaden raised his hand to his stinging red cheek, glaring at Alexis coldly.

"What was that for?!?!!" he roared. Everyone else flinched. They hadn't ever seen Jaden angry without…err… being possessed by Haou. The air seemed charged with an undeniable power. Alexis ignored that.

"Tell us what is going on and don't _say that you don't know because I can tell, Jaden Yuki, that you do know and you—will—tell—us!"_ she hollered. They were in each other's faces now, glaring with passion. Jaden was absolutely terrifying. Alexis was his match on that level too. It was so bad, even Zane let fear appear on his face. The couple glared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

Chancellor Sheppard cleared his throat and continued, "Hem-hem, well… the reason that I called you up is because Crowler and Bonaparte have disappeared. They've been gone for two days now."

Jesse looked skeptical. "Are you sure? Couldn't they just be off getting into trouble or arguing like they usually do?"

Jim nodded, adding, "The last time we did see them, me and Karen that is, they were fighting over something again."

Chancellor Sheppard shook his head sadly. "I thought that was it too. Then I realized that Blair and Marcel are also missing. Students and teachers going missing at the same time are overwhelming evidence that whoever left that message is serious." He paused to look at Alexis and Jaden, who turned away from each other in a huff and glared at opposite walls, seeming to be determined to melt holes into them with their gazes.

"So I'm loading all of the seniors onto the boat tonight to leave for Nhime Village, to reduce the targets. If we put all of the students on, the boat would become a target and a boat is easier to sink than an entire island. I'm hoping that by splitting the student body, we will cause confusion among our enemies and slow them down until they can be identified. I need all of your help to supervise this and help protect the students as the board the ship. Will you help me?"

They all nodded.

 _It won't work though,_ Jaden sadly thought.

He and Alexis dropped the poison in their glares and Alexis moved closer to him and Jaden took her hand, confusing everyone.

"You two are a dramatic couple," commented Aster. "One second you're ready to kill each other and the next you're holding hands."

Jaden smiled wryly, but it was forced. Alexis ignored that and asked, "What do we have to do?"

"The students have already been rounded up in the school," Chancellor Sheppard answered. "So all you have to do is escort them there with help from the staff. I assumed that since this creature dueled you Jaden, that they will approach us by dueling as well. And you are all the top duelists in this school."

He stood up and escorted them to the students and then to the docks. Jaden kept a wary eye on the night sky, Haou's vision giving him an advantage. The messenger hadn't returned and he was starting to get an uneasy feeling… Jaden didn't believe that _he_ would give up that easily…

They departed without any incidents and nothing happened even as the sun rose the next morning. Jaden was leaning over the railing, watching it, when Alexis tried to talk to him again. She walked over to him and leaned against the railing next to him, watching his hair swaying softly in the light breeze.

"Jaden…" she started. "I'm sorry for hitting you yesterday. I was frustrated."

He gave her his typical goofy grin. "Frustrated? I think livid is a better word."

She smiled as he wrapped his arm around her and held her close. He was stroking her hair absently, still gazing out into the ocean with a thoughtful expression on his face. She sighed out of pleasure and aggravation. Jaden caught that notion, showing that he could read her as well as she could him.

"Are you still angry?" he whispered, looking into her eyes. Alexis glanced back into his, which were reflecting the ocean and found she couldn't lie to him.

"Yes," she answered quietly. "I want to know what's going on with you."

He frowned slightly, but answered her anyway. "Lex, you were right-I do know something about that thing that attacked us today."

She looked up expectantly. "Well? Are you going to tell me?"

He gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I've actually been trying to tell you ever since that party… but I just can't seem to say it… I've kept this a secret for so long…" Alexis squeezed his hand encouragingly. "It all started back when I was little…"

"JADEN YUKI!"

Jaden leapt up, making Alexis almost topple over. They scanned the dawn sky and saw her, her black wings spread wide and in a steep dive towards them. She looked like she was ready to kill. Her wild hair was streaming behind her like fire and her talons were glistening in the faint light. Jaden dove to one side, pulling Alexis with him, as the dragon-girl swept harmlessly above them. Instead of slashing the humans, she destroyed the railing and sent part of the deck toppling into the calm waters below.

"Oh shi-!" started Jaden.

"Tell me!" screeched the deranged dragon. "Where do your allegiances lie? Will you come quietly or do I have to take you by force!?!"

She sent another blast of light towards them that nearly hit Jaden. He was preparing himself to fight when he heard a horrific voice from behind him. "GET AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND YOU BITCH!"

They both turned back just in time to see Alexis tackle the dragon-girl, aiming for her wings like Jaden and Yubel had done. The girl stumbled back, screaming, as students came out of their rooms, alarmed. Alexis deployed her duel disk in a threatening way, and their enemy fled away, or so they thought. She flipped in midair and sent a blast of light at the boat below Alexis and Jaden. It hit with an explosive impact and they were thrown from the yacht and into the waters below.

They were falling. It seemed to take an eternity to hit the water below and for a frightening second, Jaden couldn't tell which way was up. Something brushed against his hand, it was Alexis's hand. Only her hazel eyes were clear in the dark water. He found comfort in her eyes and he kicked for the surface.

However, just above them, the water flew away and there was a bright light followed by a sensation of nothingness and then he was breathing in water, choking on it, his lungs demanded air but he never lost sight of Alexis's suddenly blank eyes. She was staring below them, transfixed with something. Jaden chanced a quick glance before he broke the surface, and his heart almost stopped. Below them swam two mermaids and a merman.

_Oh crap why are they here too?_

The humans broke the surface mouth first, gasping for precious air before being dragged back under by the merpeople. "Jaden Yuki," the leader, Adria, told him firmly. "Now is the time for you to choose. And you have to do so without your heart. We need your anger to win, not your concern. I am sorry for what is about to happen to her." She pointed a strange scepter at Alexis, who disappeared in a flash of green light.

"Whhhat id u o do er?!!(What did you do to her?!!)" Jaden screamed underwater, inhaling a great deal again. He flailed until he was out of their grasp and floated just below the surface, torn between his desire for air and for information.

The youngest of them all, Atrus, swam next to Jaden, pushing him above the water and saying, "She has become one of us now. You can have her back if you can defeat me in a duel. If you lose, you'll become a merman."

"Bastard," Jaden choked out at the surface. Then he felt Haou still in the back of his mind, sensing Jaden's anger, and he tried to master himself. He took a deep breath and continued, "What happened to you, Atrus? What happened to all of you? Taking an innocent person to try and get me on your side? You used to be a good person."

The 16 year-old shrugged. "She wasn't going to by a bystander if the messenger hadn't have interrupted you. We're at war Jaden. And if you're not with us, you're against us."

The youth deployed a golden duel disk with strange symbols on it, giving his blue tail a few lazy kicks to distance himself from Jaden. "Do you accept the terms?"

Jaden glared at the merman that used to be his friend. "Duel," they simultaneously called.


	8. Jaden's Flip Side

Jaden drew a card first. "I play elemental hero Clayman (Atk: 800, Def: 2000) in defense mode. Then I'll throw down one face down."

"My turn, draw!" Atrus announced. He smirked at the card in his hand. You'll remember this card from when we were little! The last time you visited! I play the field spell Underwater Castle!"

Jaden was suddenly underwater again, only this time he could breathe. He was floating in front of a huge marble castle that glowed slightly.

"In case you don't remember its affect, I can summon two monsters with merman or mermaid in their name in attack mode under level 5 by paying 500 life points!" His life points dropped to 3500. "So now I summon from my hand, Mermaid and Merman of the Blue-Sea in attack mode. (Both- Atk: 1400 Def: 700). And when they are both on the field at the same time, they can attack you directly if I pay another 500 life points! SO go, attack Jaden with water torrent and spear strike!"

Jaden braced himself as a jet of spiraling water and a golden spear struck him, pushing him back a few feet.

"Jaden!" someone called from on the boat above him. "What's going on?"

"I'm dueling this jerk to save Alexis!" he shouted back. Somewhere in his mind he heard Haou chuckle. Which made him feel _very, incredibly, extremely_ nervous! Especially after he had been thinking about something Bastion told him in the Dark World this morning…

**_(Flashback)_ **

_He was in the place where Alexis, Chazz, Hassleberry, and Atticus had been sacrificed. He had just defeated Baou._

_"Huhuhu... Really, even if you are a weed, your true nature is Haou," Baou chuckled before dying. Then he turned into particles of light and vanished._

_"Jaden," Bastion said. Jaden turned to face his friends._

_"Bastion, Tanya. You're all right!" Jaden replied._

_  
"Yeah, that place where we were… is protected by our companions now," Tanya injected. She didn't look exactly thrilled with Jaden._

_  
"Is that so?" Jaden wondered._

_  
"But, that's just for the moment. This world is changing by a great force. If we don't take the real enemy down, the end of this world will come," Bastion gravely said._

_  
"Tell me Bastion, who is the real enemy?! What should I do?" Jaden exclaimed._

_  
Bastion kneeled onto the ground and showed 12 different rocks."There are several things I figured out after I came to this dimension. This world is divided with 12 dimensions. The one with an evil mind is trying to bring all the dimensions into one and rule them all at once." He moved all of the stones so they were bunched together. "Yes. We were forced to intertwine with this dimension. The one who wants to rule all 12 dimensions is..."_

_  
"The real enemy?" Jaden supplied._

_  
"Probably, they, aiming at you, once used Viper to take over the Academy. Sending Duel Academy to another dimension, using Marcel's body, and up till now, they woke Haou inside you up, and tried to rule the 12 dimensions." Bastion hinted._

_  
"So it's Yubel!" Jaden said, facing down._

_  
"It's not your fault, Jaden." Bastion replied in response to his narrowed eyes._

_  
"No." Jaden corrected. "I made Yubel what she is." Jaden turned away and closed his eyes like it hurt him to admit this._

_  
"It's a demon. Wake up, Jaden! All the things that happened up till now is not your fault! But the one who has power to clear this all up is you. You because you have special powers!"_

_  
"I don't have that kind of special power." Jaden said, facing up again. Then he turned away. My kind of power only destroys. You don't know half the story Bastion. Of course, he was thinking of Atrus, Liz, and Adria._

_"Yubel knew you had special power. She tried to take it by waking Haou inside of you up." Tanya told him sternly._

_  
"Haou... Haou must have disappeared. That power has become..." Jaden avoided their gazes again._

_  
"No, you and Haou are just sides of a person. Everyone has an evil and a heroic side." Bastion demanded. Jaden turned away. There's no way that Haou… could Haou really be his flip side? The side of him that already killed? The side of him that destroyed those guards… No! That's not true! I didn't let that power out! I can remember what happened when I was Haou!! I can't remember what happened when I was little! Haou can't be my flip side… he can't be my demon! I wouldn't… I couldn't…_

_  
"But..." Jaden said weakly. Instead of telling Bastion and Tanya his secret he turned away from them. Bastion grabbed his arm and pulled him closer forcibly._

_  
"Stop it, will you! Justice without power cannot rescue anyone in the first place! Controlling your powerful Haou side is the way we can make justice come true! This is no time to be scared of your own power! The real enemy that no one else can face! The one who can bring Yubel down is you, Jaden." he yelled._

_"Me? I can't bring down evil like that, I don't have that kind of power. Stop it!" Jaden cried out, starting to become overwhelmed with the terror running through his mind. He turned away, closing his eyes quickly._

_"You are the only one who can! You have to face your other side to save everyone in this world! What happened to you? Why won't you help us?!" Bastion cried._

_Jaden opened his eyes. Why won't I help?_

_"You have to help us, without you this world will be destroyed, we all will!" Tanya angrily spat._

_Bastion let go of his arm when Jaden acknowledged what she was saying._

_"You're the only one who can save us and you're saying you won't help? You have to face Yubel, please Jaden!" Bastion said._

_Jaden looked down as Kuriboh appeared beside him. He's right; I have to help them… but… if Haou really is my flip side… I don't know if I can control that. I could only prevent him from using my secret before… How can Haou be the other part of me?_

_  
"Jaden Yuki and Haou. When the two minds have fused into each other that will become the real Jaden," Syrus whispered wisely._

**_(End flashback)_ **

Jaden: 1200

Atrus: 3000

He couldn't let Haou take control! Not if he truly was the other part of him! Jaden turned his focus back on the duel. "You forgot to mention that you can't play any spell or traps when you have your castle on your side Atrus," he added to the merman.

"So?"

"So you can't stop this next move, my turn!" Jaden didn't even bother to look at his card, he knew what it was. "I summon Elemental Hero Neocroshade, but he won't be around for long, because now I'll sacrifice him and Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Neos in attack mode! (Atk: 2500 Def: 2000-I think?) And since I just discarded Neocroshade, his affect takes place. Now I can summon a monster without any sacrifices, so come on out Blade-Edge! (Atk: 2600)"

Atrus shivered as Jaden's monsters appeared on the field. Then he looked at Jaden appraisingly. "You've grown since we last met. Now I see why _he's_ fighting so hard to get to you."

"Do you know this guy Jaden?" Jesse called from the boat.

Jaden bit his lip. "I'm not done yet! I activate the field spell card neospace!"-Underwater Castle was destroyed and Neospace appeared-"Now Neos gets a 500 point boost! (Atk: 3000) Anyway, now I'll attack your monsters! Go Neos, Blade-edge!"

His monster flew towards the two merpeople and destroyed them effortlessly.

Atrus: 200

Jaden: 1200

 ** _This is what dueling is about, Jaden,_** supplied Haou's spirit. **_Use your anger and rage against their betrayal to fuel your energy in this duel. Or better yet, join the messenger to betray them. She won't hurt you and you already know that you will be accepted as a god. I am you after all…_**

As if the merman had heard Haou's latest Evil 101 class, Atrus grimaced at his old friend sadly. "Won't you just come quietly? Why won't you join us Jaden? Can't you, of all people, understand why _they_ need to be destroyed?"

"You're no better," Jaden hissed. "You're hurting people Atrus. All of it is pointless and now you're taking an innocent bystander and dragging her into this?" Haou smirked in Jaden's mind.

 _But that doesn't mean I'll join them and let you go crazy with my secret,_ Jaden scolded Haou. Haou chuckled again.

**_We are not so different, Jaden. We both are powerful and others follow us. We just use our power for different reasons. You waste it on others when you know that they will all die soon anyway. I use it to get ahead. Then perhaps we could change what will happen to your friends and your 'angel'._ **

_I don't believe in destiny Haou. I don't believe that that will happen for sure,_ Jaden replied coldly.

 ** _You can't fool your own mind Jaden. You are unsure about what fate brings you, which is why you choose not to believe in what is set in stone,_** Haou lectured.

_The future's not set in stone!_

**_Who's talking about the future? I was talking about your past, my other half._ **

_Shut-up,_ Jaden snapped, irritated. _But Haou was his other half… unless he was just trying to mess with Jaden._

Atrus looked towards Adria for support. She shrugged and turned towards Jaden with cool indifference. "We shouldn't have saved you that day. We should have kept you with us instead of letting you get away and be tainted by your human emotions."

The last mermaid was looking at him with her deep purple eyes sadly. She hid her face with her hands suddenly and cried out, "Why did you chose her over us?! You did it when you were little, that ridiculous person you called 'mom' and now with this girl! What does she have that we don't?!"

"How about a heart," he snapped, glaring at her. "You are as bad as _them_ , Liz. You, Atrus, Adria and everyone else are just like _them._ I saw that and I thought you three realized that too. I guess I was wrong."

He folded his arms across his chest in a cold way, ignoring the confusion of his friends above him. Liz was about to cry. "You were like a little sister to me Liz," Jaden said in a more gentle voice. "It's not that I don't care about you guys, it's just that… I don't believe in what you want me to do. I don't belong here or _there._ I belong in the human world, in _my_ world."

"You belong with your angel," Adria quietly input in a knowing voice. "Serena told us the legends. So we took your angel and now you'll be joining her when you lose. You'll be one of us and this time, there's nothing you can do to change it."

"Almost nothing."

They all looked up at the messenger who they had recently forgotten. Liz hissed at the creature. "Scum of the sky! You have no business here! Jaden is ours!"

"He is as much yours as he is mine, seaweed-brain," the girl answered sharply. "He's fair game."

"Hel-lo. I'm right here," Jaden said, annoyed and in no mood for them to burst out his secret to the passengers on the boat. "Are we dueling or do you surrender?"

"Forget do or die," Atrus answered, quoting something Jaden had once told him. "I'll never swim or fly."

Now everyone but the duelists... was completely lost. "There's still hope then," Jaden finished with Atrus's quote when they were young. "If you're not giving up, then draw!"

"Fine!" Atrus drew a card and frowned, glancing at Jaden with a guilty expression. "Now I activate the spell card, Unforgiving Betrayal."

Jaden's heart seemed to stop. "No."

Atrus turned his guilty face away. "So now… I can take one changed soul and play it once, and only once in a lifetime. I chose… our last hope... The Guardian's Angel, Mermaid Princess Alexis."

Alexis materialized on the field. She had a long, blue and green tail with a white fin and blue tips. Her hair was down and flowed around her. She was wearing a little-mermaid style top (White and green sea-shells). She had a necklace of pearls around her and was more confused than the people on the boat. Her hazel eyes locked on Jaden's horrified ones.

(Atk: 2900 Def: 2700)

"Whenever a soul is summoned in this manner… her ability activates. She can destroy all other monster cards on the field." Neos and Blade disappeared in shards of light. "But you get to draw one card. So now, attack Jaden directly!"

Jaden recovered from his shock and played his face-down as Alexis struggled to refrain from attacking him. "I activate negate attack! So now your attack is cancelled."

Alexis sighed in relief while glaring at Atrus violently. "Come on Jaden! Beat him!"

He smiled at his fiancé lovingly. He attempted to bow in the water and failed. So he settled with a salute. "Yes, milady," he teased, he was still Jaden after all.

"I'll play one card face-down and end my turn," Atrus sulked. "But don't forget what happens to Alexis if you destroy her in battle."

Jaden's playful smirk vanished.

"What happens?" Jim asked Jaden from the boat.

"She dies," Atrus answered quietly.

 ** _Well this way would be less painful,_** Haou input.

_I thought I told you to shut-up!_

"My turn, draw!" Jaden said. He drew Pot of Greed. His other two cards were Wild Heart and Winged Kuriboh. "I activate Pot of Greed, so now I can draw two more cards!"

He drew polymerization and Cyclone Boomerang. He glanced at his cards and received a shock. Polymerization was rapidly switching between normal and then Dark Fusion. Jaden almost dropped the card, but composed himself when he saw that he didn't need to use it.

"Sweet! First off, I summon Elemental Hero Wild Heart in attack mode (Atk: 1500)! Then I'll equip him with Cyclone Boomerang so his attack points increase by 500 (Atk: 2000)! Now go, attack Alexis!"

Alexis: 2900

Wild Heart: 2000

"She has more attack points! Why are you attacking her?!" Liz shouted, concerned.

Sure enough, Wild Heart was easily destroyed, but Alexis was smiling.

Jaden: 300

Atrus: 200

She answered for Jaden this time. She said, "Because when Cyclone Boomerang is sent to the graveyard, all trap and spell cards are destroyed and you take 500 points of damage for each of them."

"What?!" all of the merpeople shouted. Atrus' life points drained to zero and all of the monsters disappeared. Alexis collapsed and Jaden watched as she turned back to normal, rushing to her side, worried out of his mind. Summoning _anyone_ like that normally really hurt that person.

"Alexis? Alexis!" he shouted, swimming with her back towards the boat. He steadied himself on the rungs of the ladder that they dropped down and hoisted her over his back. He started his slow ascent upward and was conscious of the merpeople's and the dragon-girl's stares. His friends helped him up the last few steps, which he was grateful for.

"We have… to get her… to Ayukawa," Jaden panted, finally feeling the effects of falling in the ocean and fighting in a water duel. He was shivering terribly and imagined that he looked terrible, but he didn't care. Alexis needed help right now. "That… card… has bad… side effects."

His knees buckled and he was on all fours, breathing hard. His friends were surprised and he felt Jim and Axel pull him to his feet. Zane and Jesse were supporting Alexis. Darkness was creeping in on the edge of his vision, he knew he was about to pass out. Hopefully Ayukawa would say that it was because he had been in the freezing water for half an hour. If not... well he'd have to invent another lie to avoid telling the truth. Now he realized that they would be in even more danger if he told his friends his secret.

 _"She wasn't going to be a bystander if the messenger hadn't have interrupted you. We're at war Jaden. And if you're not with us, you're against us."_ Atrus had said.

 ** _So you should stop fighting against it and listen to them._** Once again, helpful tidbits on how to become evil by Haou Jaden chose not to respond this time. _Maybe he's right._

Jaden had almost pulled her into all of this. And just because he _almost_ told her, she had been targeted to get to him! Jaden turned his exhausted eyes back towards the sea. Adria and Liz were pulling Atrus, who had already lost consciousness, back underwater. They sensed him watching and Liz started crying before disappearing below the waves. The messenger also saw that Jaden couldn't be attacked at the moment, so she extended her bat-like wings and floated away.

Jaden then focused on Alexis' angelic face. He watched with his fading eyesight her wet golden hair sway across her face and over her shoulders. Her brow furrowed as if she felt him staring at her or Fubuki had just said something stupid. He smiled before his world went black.


	9. Dreaming Daze

Jaden's POV

_I was leaning on the railing overlooking the ocean on Nhime Village. My mom was smiling next to me, telling me why the whirlpool below us was there. She laughed when she saw I wasn't paying attention and decided to point out different shapes in the water instead. This time I paid attention._

_"Look Jay! There's a heart! And there's a dragon!" she cooed, still laughing._

_I focused on the dark swirling waters and saw a shape too. This one was pretty cool. "It's a mermaid!" I called, pointing at the water. Mom smiled and nodded her head._

_"And there's her castle!" Mom exclaimed, pointing to the sun's reflection. "Glittering and shimmering Atlantis!"_

_Something gave an ominous creek. We ignored it, thinking it was one of the cars on the street behind us. I focused on the mermaid shadow in the water. I could almost make out her tail and everything! Then a pale face peered up out of the water. I leaned over the railing, stunned. "Mommy! Look! It is a mermaid!"_

_My mother frowned and said, "Jaden Yuki, don't lean on the railing like that."_

_"But look, mommy! She's really there!" I bubbled, jumping up and down. The railing gave way with a final 'snap!' and I was suddenly tumbling into the whirlpool._

_"JADEN!!" I heard my mom scream before I plummeted under the water._

_I was being helplessly buffeted through the water, spinning around and thrown against what seemed like every single rock in the ocean. I was running out of breath, I couldn't find the surface. All there was were water and confusion. I suddenly felt bad for my mom as my lungs screamed for air. I would be the second person that she lost… Then my legs suddenly felt like they were on fire and a proper scream came pouring out of my mouth. There was a flash of something red-gold behind me and a green tail in front of me and then I passed out._

_There were voices all around me. None of them which I recognized. I remembered something about falling…_

_"Uh…" I moaned as I woke up. The voices stopped. I cracked open my brown eyes tentatively and took in how blue everything was. Standing… er… swimming in front of me were nine merpeople: Six adults and three kids. I looked down at my own legs and found instead a red tail with white fins and golden tips. Whenever I moved it my red scales shimmered gold and white. I felt the gills on my neck with my hands while gaping at the people in front of me._

_The adults all had green tails with yellow fins while the kids had blue tails with white fins. They all fixed their stares on me, and I felt nervous. "Umm… Hi?" I said._

_The smallest one, a boy, smiled at me. He had short black hair and piercing green eyes. "Hi-ya!" he chirped before the adults could respond. "My name's Atrus! What's yours? Why do you have a tail if you're human? We all saw you up on that cliff!"_

_I was taken aback, but none of the others input anything else. "I'm… Jaden," I offered, remembering vaguely that mom told me never to talk to strangers. Did she mean merpeople too? Oh well. "And, erm, I don't know how I ended up here. What's going on?"_

_The adults were suddenly interested in me. "What's your surname Jaden?" a lady with long purple hair asked._

_"Huh?" I answered. "What's my what?"_

_She smiled at me politely. "Sorry sweety. I mean your last name. Like my name is, Serena Delane."_

_"Oh," I said nervously. "Why didn't ya say so? My name's Jaden Yuki."_

_There were collective gasps and exclamations among the adults. The kids looked up at their parents curiously. The smaller girl looked back at me before floating over cautiously._

_"Hi Jay-den," she whispered slowly. "I'm Liz Delane. Serena's my mommy. And that's my daddy!" She pointed to her father, the tallest of them all, who had red eyes and blonde hair._

_The man nodded at me. "Hello, little one. My name is Michael Delane. You may call me Mike."_

_"Michael," another mermaid asked. She had long pink hair that ended at her waist. "What should we do? If the guards find him here… they'll take him away."_

_"Then we just won't let them find him now, will we Maxine?" he responded gently._

_The woman nodded and scooped up Atrus in her arms protectively. "Mom!" he groaned, flailing a bit._

_"Give him some air Maxi," the second tallest merman answered. "Don't strangle our son."_

_Max bonked him on the head. "Be quiet Stephan!"_

_I took this all in tiredly. It was all really hopelessly confusing for one seven-year-old. I glanced around at the other three anonymous merpeople, who came forward and ruffled their daughter's hair. She smacked away their hands and regarded me with curiosity._

_"Hey Jay, my name's Adria and I'm eight years old and these are my parents Angela and Patrick," she said all in one breath. She reminded me of Melody._

_"Hi," I answered politely. "So, where am I exactly?"_

_"You're in Everlost!" cried out Angela, attempting to braid her daughter's purple hair. Angela herself had red hair. "This is a different world than yours, little one. The portal opens up whenever the whirlpool occurs over the cliff in Nhime Village. You fell into it and well…"_

_I moved my tail up and down, amazed by how natural it felt._

_"Jaden, you have to be careful in our world, or in any other world for that matter." That was Patrick. "You are in danger here. The fact that you turned into one of us when you passed through the gate proves that. Whenever that happens to anyone else, they stay human and they always drowned. You're special in some way so you must not let the guards see you! They will try to manipulate you to do their bidding. You must stay strong!"_

_I blinked at the young man. "What will they do to me? Why?"_

_Maxine shook her head sadly. "Jaden, we're at war with Evermore. Our Queen still has not arrived as the prophecy foretold-."_

_"You shouldn't believe in stuff like that," I answered calmly. "Prophecies don't always come true and there's no such thing as destiny."_

_"Humor me," Maxine smiled. "Our Queen isn't here and everyone is tense. There are also tales about a mysterious child linked to our Queen. This child could travel freely between all of the worlds and adapt to the lifestyle of that world, like you getting gills and a tail." She added that after she saw I was lost._

_"So, does that mean me?" I wondered out loud. They all nodded._

_"But we'll keep you safe from them, little one. We'll keep you safe until you are ready to face them," Stephan promised. "You see, little guardian, there are eleven different world other than your own. This world is, as you can obviously see, made of merpeople. Many people believe that the other worlds are focused mainly on 'Duel Monsters', but that is not true. Sure we play the game, but only in dire situations. You see, here and anywhere else except Earth, these games are very real. The loser dies."_

_"Now there are worlds that some of your humans have seen and decided to write 'fantasy' novels out of them. However, we are all quite real. All mythical creatures of the water live here in Everlost. We call this world that because we are forever lost from man-kind and are forbidden to make contact." I looked guilty. "And in Evermore, they want revenge on humans. They want to take over your world to obtain power, but then they discovered that your kind is incredibly dangerous when they saw WWII and they found out that you killed all the vampires. I think it was the nucs that freaked them out big time though… So they gave up on that plan and targeted us instead. We've hated the Evermores (mythical creatures of the air) for as long as I can remember, simply because they are our opposites."_

_Okay, I have no idea what 'nucs' are, and I really don't care at the moment. How am I tied into all of this?_

_He turned towards me gravely. "And now we are slowly destroying both of our worlds. The guards believe that you contain a dangerous power that can wipe out the Evermores and any other world that stands in our way. Most people here want that too. We are a very greedy race… well, most of us anyway. There are actually only 20 of us, not all of them being merpeople, who want peace instead of war. But using that kind of power for evil cannot have a good outcome. Now that I've met you myself, I can see that you are just a kind child. If there is any evil in you, it is asleep and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure it stays that way. I will protect you while you remain here, Guardian."_

_I looked up at him carefully. "Can't I go home?"_

_They all looked shocked. "Why would you want to do that?" Liz cried out._

_"Because it's not safe for me here," I reasoned. "You guys will get hurt for helping me. Plus you just said that the guard's will try to use me in a way that I can't be used. I don't have any kind of power like that! Even if I did, I wouldn't use it to hurt all of those people. And… back home, it's just me and my mom. She lost my dad after I was born… I can't do this to her. She's worried out of her mind by now."_

_Patrick nodded his head. "You're wise for one so young. You truly can adapt to our world. But… the gate will not open again for another two weeks."_

_"TWO WEEKS!" I burst out. I gave my tail a sharp flick and I sped off the sandy floor._

_Adria looked sympathetic. Atrus was surprised. "You're family is separated? Did your dad die? Was he killed?"_

_I looked at my fin sadly. "He was killed. It was some kind of freak accident. My mom said it was 'black colored lightning'."_

_Atrus put a supportive hand on my shoulder. "I lost someone too. My little bro, Dexter. One of the guards killed him in front of me when we tried to help a human girl that fell through our portal…"_

_"Did you say black lightning?" Adria asked._

_I just nodded._

_"That's from the Evermore though. Why would one of them be in your world?" Serena pondered._

_"What's Evermore again?" I inquired, starting to get my facts confused._

_"Evermore's another world. They are creatures of the air, like winged humans, fairies, sprites, angels, demons, and dragons," Serena elaborated. "The dragons can use 'black lightning' to instantly kill a foe, but they are left incredibly tired afterwards. I wonder what one was doing on Earth…"_

_I stayed with these merpeople for a few more days and by then Atrus, Liz, Adria, and I were friends. We were inside, cuz I can't go outside!_

_"Hey Dri," I said. "Not to be rude or anything, but why a world full of merpeople and another full of flying things?"_

_"Where do you think your designers get their ideas for cards?" she replied._

_Oh. "Good point," I agreed. "Know what's weird though? I've been here for nine days already and I'm not even hungry! Not once!"_

_They looked at me strange. "You're not… what?" Atrus asked, bewildered._

_"Er, hungry, you know," I muttered. "Um… like needing to eat… like food and stuff."_

_They understood that._

_"Oh!" Liz squealed. "We don't eat. We're evolved or something. Is it true that humans eat fish?"_

_"Ummm…" I was saved the trouble of answering from Michael._

_"Kids! Take Jaden and swim! Get out of here now!!" Michael commanded._

_Before I could protest, Atrus and Adria dragged me out a window and Liz swam in front of me. They let go and we shot through the water like torpedoes. I glanced behind me shoulder and saw terrifying merman. Instead of glittering tails like ours, they had shark tales that were deep black, spikes on their forearms, and worst of all a mouth that ran from ear to ear that was full of sharp, deadly teeth._

_We continued our mad dash for the faster currents that would take us to the help._

_They spotted us and fell on us in seconds. I remember pushing Liz and Adriainto the faster tides so they were swept away to safety and Atrus dragging me through and then something sharp grabbed my tail before I could get all the way into it. It felt like tiny needles were being injected into my tail as the guard pulled me back into his grasp. Then my world went black._

_I woke up in a small cage in a dark room. My tail was throbbing and my hands were bound. I wasn't scared at all though. I knew Atrus, Liz, and Adria were safe. But where was I?_

_"So you're awake, you little demon." This voice was very low and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. One of the guards came into view. He pocked his fingers through the bars and wiggled them, making fun of me._

_So I did what any sensible mer-human-kid-thing would do, I bit him, hard._

_He screamed, pulling his now bleeding finger out of my cage. I heard dark chuckles and saw another guard emerge from the shadows. "So you want to play, so you?" he asked me. But he didn't poke his fingers in my cage. I growled at him._

_"That's quite a lot of zip you've got, Guardian Yuki," he continued, fingering a strange medallion on his chest. "But I have something that will cut you down to size."_

_He held up the medal to me and it glowed bright red-gold. I shielded my eyes as it grew and engulfed everything. There were screams everywhere around me, people dying, dragons dying, worlds being destroyed, merpeople trying to escape, duel monster spirits trying to flee, but were caught and banished. I cried out and clasped my hands over my ears, trying to stop the noise and the images. Stop! Stop! STOP IT!_

_It was all too much. Now there was fire burning in me, tearing apart my mind. STOP IT! I begged._

_The guard was watching the little boy with a disgusted look on his face. He's too kind. I need to find his hidden power and unleash it, that was the only mission the prophecy told me to do! But he's resisting so hard!_

_"This is what is happening to the worlds!" the shark thing hollered at me. "They are falling apart even as we float here and talk! Stop resisting! Throw away you're heart! Let your anger out! Let your pain cover everything else! Rise for God's sake! Rise!"_

_"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" I hollered, barely hearing myself. "I WON'T THROW AWAY MY HEART! THAT'S WHY YOU'RE FIGHTING IN THE FIRST PLACE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

_The creature backed away as something clicked in my mind. It smirked before bowing low to me. That idiot. The images left me as quickly as they came and I caught my reflection against the reflective bars. My eyes were bright gold, but that didn't bother me at all. A smirk played across my face as I raised a hand towards the guards…_

_I opened my eyes. My head hurt. Now where was I?_

_"Jay-den?" someone said. "Atrus, he's waking up!"_

_I focused on the voice. She was a little mermaid, no older than me. "Liz?" I mumbled._

_She nodded slowly. "Are you ok?"_

_"Yeah, just tired," I answered. Then I took in what was below me. Sand, dry sand!! I was on land. I tried lifting myself up, but a soft hand pushed me back down. It was Adria._

_She wasn't smiling like Liz. She looked scared. "Dri, what's wrong?" I tiredly asked._

_"Don't you remember anything?" she said. She touched one of my newly reformed legs curiously. I was suddenly glad that my old clothes had appeared on me._

_"Remember what?" I ventured._

_"Nothing," she replied. "We brought you back to your world. You're safe now. Now we all are."_

_I was about to ask her again when Atrus swam over to the beach edge that I was lying on. "Jay!" he happily exclaimed, throwing his arms around me. "We were so worried about you, man!"_

_I blinked incomprehensively._

_"After you blew apart those guards, we didn't know if we could snap you out of it!" Atrus continued, oblivious to me freezing in place. I killed someone?_

_"It was scary, and yet cool in some way!" he went on. "Your eyes were different though. They were golden. But- you blew up part of the dungeon; and our parents escaped! Well done! Then more guards swarmed up to you and you just smirked and held out your hand. Your eyes glowed and they all, like, dropped dead! Literally! It was wicked man! Then you vanished, in like, thin water! You appeared again later at the castle, and literally blasted it to pieces! Your eyes went all glow-in-the-dark and then your tail was shimmering and a HUGE blast of this dark aura thingy hit the castle and it blew up!! It was sweet!! How did you do that anyway? Could you show me?"_

_O--kay… was anyone else worried about how I did that?_

_"Then we all swam to you, me, Serena, Mike, Adria, Liz, Stephan, Max, Angela, and Patrick, and you kinda just froze and shut down."_

_I **do** remember seeing them all together… They had looked so scared… I think._

_"Like you're doing now," Adria commented, watching me._

_"Jay-den, do you fell okay?" My 'little sis' Liz asked, worried._

_"Not really, I'm sort of… dizzy," I answered._

_"You should rest, you've been through a lot lately," Adria suggested wisely. "We'll be back here in a month, can you come visit?" She saw my startled glance. "Not in our world! Gosh no! Do you think that we're going to let you into all of those livid people's grasps? Just on the beach I mean. I want to talk to you about what happened."_

_"Oh," I sighed. "Sure."_

_"Bye, Jaden," Atrus said._

_"Good-bye, Jay-den!"_

_"Bye, Jay."_

_Then I passed out._

**_End Jaden's POV_ **

_As unpleasant as Jaden's memories were in his fitful sleep, Alexis' were pleasant._

**_Alexis POV_ **

_Alexis was dreaming of the day she and Jaden finally got together._

_I walked out of my dorm, angry with Jasmine and Mindy for trying to get me to talk about Haou Jaden again. Couldn't they see that it bothered me?_

_I just needed a place to unwind for awhile. I took in my location, suddenly unsure of where I had stormed off to. I was walking up a flowered hill and could hear the sound of running water._

_Well this place seems nice, I thought happily. Now all it needs is Jaden._

_Then I blushed big time._

_My feet carried me to the top of the hill and I heard a gasp escape my mouth. It was beautiful here. There was a small lake across from me with a gentle waterfall falling lazily off of a low cliff. Surrounding the shiny waters was a meadow full of all different color flowers._

_And best of all there was a boy in a red jacket and brown hair sitting below me, staring at the water as if debating whether or not to swim._

_He looked up at me with his deep brown eyes. My heart panged when I saw that he looked happy for once. After he had woken up and recovered, he had always seemed more glum and distant to us. Not that we weren't trying to talk to him, he just never wanted to talk about what had happened. He understood that we forgave him though; I just don't think he's forgiven himself yet._

_"Hey, Lex," he smiled, shading his eyes from the sun to look up at me. "What brings you here?"_

_"My crazy friends," I replied dreamily. He looked so handsome when he had that goofy smile. "So what were you just thinking about? Do you want to swim?"_

_He laughed one of his now rare true laughs. Lately he had just smiled sadly, never laughed. Maybe that's why I felt so elated._

_"What kind of a question is that?" he answered brightly. "Of course I'm gonna swim! I was debating whether or not to jump off that cliff."_

_My heart stopped. I guess my smile must have slid off my face because he rushed on, "Not like that, Lex! I mean cliff jumping, like into the water. I used to do it with some friends back at home, and this isn't too tall to jump from."_

_I was relived and embarrassed that I thought he was about to end his life. I smiled as he took his jacket and shirt off suddenly and started pulling me towards the water. My face turned a red that would have shamed Jaden's jacket. He had grown really strong lately, let's just leave it at that._

_He turned back to look at me curiously. "What's up?"_

_We stopped running at the base of the cliff. There was a pretty straight pathway to the top from here. Then he got a sly look on his face. "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights."_

_"I'm not!" I flared. I threw my shoes and gloves off and marched to the summit. Jaden copied me, laughing pleasantly again. Then I looked down. O-K maybe I was._

_Is it appealing to you to jump off a cliff next to a waterfall and into the water?_

_"Do you want to go first, or should I?" Jaden asked, reading my fear._

_"Er, go ahead Jay," I whimpered._

_He smirked and threw himself off the edge. He whooped and laughed the entire way down. Before smacking into the water, he flipped smartly and did a perfect dive, barely making a splash. I was impressed._

_"Come on, Lex!" he cried up at me when he resurfaced. "It's sweet!!"_

_"Umm… I think I'm okay up here," I called. Man, was I a chicken._

_"Come on! Don't be a chicken Alexis!" Jaden responded, a playful gleam entering his eyes. That's what made me jump, not the playful gleam, HE CALLED ME A CHICKEN!!_

_I jumped out into open air, screaming like a banshee as I dropped, but then I cracked open my eyes and saw Jaden with a smile on his face. My fear vanished and I found that I was having fun. I entered the water with a giant splash and came up laughing._

_Jaden swan up next to me and cocked his head to the side, "Wanna go again?"_

_I punched him in the shoulder and replied, "What kinda question is that?"_

_We ran up to the summit again and I was about to jump when Jaden held out his hand to me. I blushed as he asked, "Together?"_

_I could only nod and grasped his hand firmly. "On three… One… Two… Three!"_

_We leapt into the air, bringing ourselves closer to each other unconsciously and screaming with delight. I caught him looking at me out of the corner of his eye and turned to face him in midair. He did the same and said over the wind, "I'm glad you came."_

_I smiled and leaned in towards him, whispering, "I'm glad Jaden's back."_

_Then we crashed into the warm water and were suddenly kissing. If you've ever kissed someone underwater, you're crazy. But it was amazing._

_We were both surprised at first, but then I watched his eyes close and he kissed back. I mimicked him and we dissolved into our passionate kiss until our lungs were screaming for air. Then we kicked to the surface, still holding hands._

_We swam to shore and lay down next to each other. Jaden had one hand resting on his abs and his other was tangled in mine. His eyes were closed, but I could tell that he was happy. "Where were we?" he said playfully._

_"Right here," I finished and place my lips on his again. He smiled and we stared making-out. Time seemed to stop as I kissed him. My heart was bursting with joy and I wrapped my hands around his neck and he placed his on my waist. I didn't remember sitting up, but we were now. Then suddenly I could feel, Jaden. Feel his heart racing fast like mine and I could feel something else. There was still something sinister within him. For some unexplainable reason, I could sense it. But I also felt goodness, and a wild edge to him that drew me in._

_Who was I kidding for all of these months I've been with Jaden? How could anyone not see that I was in love with him? Why couldn't I until I saw him dying?_

_I broke apart and gazed into his comforting eyes. But even there I could see it. Just too far away to focus on, but a glint of evil. I shivered and pulled Jaden into a wet hug. He must have sensed my fear, because he pulled away and looked into me now. "What is it, Lex?"_

_I shook my head, trying to find that sinister something again. But it was gone now, replaced with concern. "Jaden, I can't properly explain it… but, just now… I felt something--dark--when I was kissing you," I admitted. "Tell me that you're still you. Please."_

_He lifted my chin up so that I could see into his deep eyes clearly. "Alexis, if Haou ever somehow slinks his way back into my mind, this time I've got friends who can help me. And there's no one that can take me away from you. I promise."_

_I smiled and looked away, slightly ashamed for doubting him. I could tell that he was hurt by my thoughts. "Jaden… I trust you," I whispered and then looked him in the eye. "I'm just afraid to lose you… I... I love you."_

_He didn't look surprised by my confession. He drew closer and kissed me on the lips lightly. "I love you too."_

_I snuggled into his warm embrace and sighed. This was how it was supposed to be. This was perfect. Just Jaden and I._


	10. Hello Melody Yuki!

_Jaden was facing a mirror in darkness of heart once again. Standing to his right was the shadowy figure of Haou, matching his shape but with glowing gold eyes. He acknowledged his other half grimly, and Haou nodded slowly before looking at the mirror again._

**_It's over my other half, both of us have failed._ ** _Haou didn't seem as cold anymore. He sounded sad. **We could not stop them, and now neither of us has control over our deadly secret. It is in their hands now… the end of the world is near.**_

 _Jaden looked at the mirror in horror as it reflected himself with glowing gold eyes standing next to_ **him.** **He** _wore a prideful smile and was speaking to a girl with golden hair and hazel eyes. "Alexis!" Jaden called out from his mind and even Haou looked alarmed._

_"Girl, you are a fool. Your Jaden is no longer there. Can you not see it in his eyes? You were foolish to come here. Now you will die and it shall be him that destroys you."_

**He** _turned towards 'Jaden' now, a smirk on_ **his** _face. "Go and destroy your 'angel' Guardian."_

_"No!" Jaden screamed from his mind and was surprised when Haou's joined his. "Stop! Stop it!!"_

_His body moved slowly towards Alexis, who stood tall and straight. She spoke to him, most likely the last true words she would ever say to him. "Jaden, Atrus and the others are dead. I'm the only one left._ **He** _killed them. Why are you on his side?"_

_"I'm not! Haou, we have to stop me!" Jaden screeched, nearly out of his mind. (figuratively, not literally)_

_"There is nothing we can do," Haou simply said. "It is out of our hands, whether we are joined or separate."_

_"No!" Jaden ran up to the mirror and touched it as if he could reach Alexis through the mirror. "Alexis!!"_

_"Jaden," she whispered as his body approached her and came to a halt before those beautiful eyes. "I will always love you. And now I wait for the day that you can follow me to life's last, and greatest, adventure."_

_"ALEXIS!" Jaden wailed. "NO!"_

_He felt his arm lift up and he placed it on Alexis's cheek. The color drained from her face and something seemed to fade away in her eyes. Then she crumpled to the ground on his feet, gone forever._

Jaden woke up hitting and kicking and thrashing. Once he realized that, he stopped immediately, he was also drenched in cold sweat. He flew up, but something was holding him down. His shocked eyes moved slowly up and met with Alexis's hazel ones, and then he looked to her right and saw everyone staring at him in shock.

"You must have had one hell of a nightmare there, Jay," Hassleberry colorfully input.

 _You have no idea,_ Jaden miserably thought.

"Yeah, mate. You were hollering and thrashing around like the devil was after you," Jim added, observing him closely.

"Are you alright Jaden? You kept shouting out 'Stop! Stop it!' and 'Get away!'. You also kept repeating the names Atrus, Liz, and Adria. You said my name a lot too. Why did you shout out the merpeople's names Jaden?" Alexis whispered in a calming tone.

He looked down at her arms and received a shook. She was covered in multiply scratches and places that looked like they were about to bruise. He glanced at her hands which were on his shoulders in a vice-grip. His brown eyes found a corner in the room and saw the ojama brothers and Ruby cowering against the wall.

"Did I do that to you?" Jaden asked, staring once again at Alexis's wounds.

"It's okay Jaden, you were asleep. You didn't know it was me," she replied.

Jaden looked down, ashamed that he had hurt her and had scared the duel spirits.

"You didn't answer my questions Jaden," Alexis pointed out.

"I don't have to," he snapped in a venomous voice. Everyone unconsciously took a step back. Alexis let go of him and Jaden walked out of the sick bay on the boat in still soaking wet clothes. He went into his and Sy's room and changed into a red T-shit and shorts. Then Aster walked in.

"Jaden," he said simply.

"Aster," Jaden responded, towel drying his hair.

The pro was silent for a few moments, watching Jaden carefully. Aster broke the hostile silence with a sigh. Jaden and Haou were surprised, they had expected Aster to start yelling.

"Jaden, Bastion just told us all about you and Haou. You're other side? Ring a bell?" he sighed, but his blue eyes were observant.

"I don't have another side anymore Aster," Jaden replied in a cold voice.

"Sore spot," Aster quipped. "Then why are you acting like this. You're going between anger, sorrow, joy, and excitement like crazy."

"Puberty," Jaden replied sarcastically. Aster swallowed a snort.

"Okay, if your problem with your dark side is solved, then what do you know about those mermaids?"

Jaden glanced at Aster in an innocent way. "Nothing important."

The boy didn't believe that. "Then why did you know their names, know what that card did to Alexis, and call the little one your 'little sister'?"

Oops. Aster continued when Jaden didn't reply. He said, "And Alexis told us about what you told her this morning, that you _do_ know something about the dragon thing. She also mentioned that you said it all started back when you were young. What's the matter? Cat got you tongue?" He added that last part when Jaden didn't respond.

"Listen Jaden, we both know about the horrors of my past, so I don't think your story can be much worse."

"Tch," Jaden answered. "You're right, it isn't worse by very much; it's worse by a lot."

Aster smiled in victory. "So? Can you prove to me that your past is worse than losing your own father?"

Jaden glared at the blue-eyed pro. "You're not the only one who lost their father Aster."

There was a stunned silence after that. Aster was staring at him with his eyebrows arched so high that they weren't visible.

_Well, I dangled a carrot in front of his face; let's see where it takes us._

**_Away from dangerous waters for sure,_** Haou nodded. **_That is one part of our past that is safe to talk about._**

"You lost your father too?" Aster whispered, still shocked.

Jaden nodded slowly, keeping his eyes away from Aster's. "He died when I was one."

"What happened?" the shocked boy continued.

"He was murdered," Jaden replied frostily, having enough common sense to not mention that Charles Yuki had been killed by a dragon from another world. Or that he gathered this information from a mermaid in yet another different world when he was seven. Oh yeah, and let's not forget to add the tail and fin while we're at it.

A sudden look of understanding spread across Aster's face. "Was he killed in Nhime Village, Jaden? Did you used to live there when you were little?"

Okay, how did he pull that out? "Yeah," Jaden sighed, not sure where this was going but deciding to play along. As if to emphasize his grief, Winged Kuriboh appeared by his side, acting as if comforting Jaden.

Aster bowed his head, "I'm sorry for your loss Jaden, I guess this explains why you've been acting sort of strange lately. Going back to the town where your father was murdered will most likely bring back bad memories."

 _You have no idea._ But of course Jaden didn't say that. He simply nodded in what he hoped was a sad nod and chanced a glance into Aster's eyes. With his uncanny ability to read people, Jaden could tell that the mermen had temporarily been pushed out of Aster's mind when he realized he and Jaden shared a traumatic event in the past.

Aster seemed lost in thought for a long while.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Jaden supplied.

Aster started as if he had forgotten Jaden standing there. He laughed nervously and said, "Uh, yeah… umm… Well I'll see you around Jaden."

The pro left as suddenly as he came. "Okay, what was that all about?" Jaden asked Kuriboh.

His little spirit threw up his hands in exasperation. Then his other duel spirits joined in. Yubel and Neos decided it was best to appear on the scene and possibly chide Jaden for not telling the entire truth to his friends.

"Jaden," Neos started. "That was very close. We have to be careful around your friends now."

Jaden practically did the anime-face-vault. "What? You actually agree with me?! I thought you were going to yell at me!"

Yubel sniggered. "My precious child, of course we agree with you. You're secret is very dangerous. If it falls into the wrong hands… well, you know what would happen."

Jaden looked away pointedly. "I won't let _that_ ever happen."

The three spirits nodded.

 _Kuri, Kuuurrri!_ (We need to think up some kind of story that ties your dad into all of this to prevent our friends from suspecting something) Kuriboh input, flapping his wings thoughtfully.

"Well, let's go get some fresh air to think about it," Jaden suggested after several minutes of useless brainstorming. They all nodded and followed Jaden in spirit form out to the highest point of the upper decks. Jaden leaned against the wall, a little cautiously at first since his memory was still rather vivid in his head, and stared out to the ocean like he always did to think.

"Jaden?" Yubel asked suddenly and he realized she had been observing him closely.

"Yes, Yubel?" he responded, still staring into the waves thoughtfully.

"Why do you always come out to the ocean from the highest possible point to think?" she wondered.

The question caught him off-guard. "Er… What do you mean?"

"Whenever you want to mull over something, you've always gone to the ocean and you look out across it from a cliff or a building… somewhere high up," the spirit elaborated.

Jaden folded his arms across his chest thoughtfully. "I guess… I just feel comfortable when I don't have to choose one over the other…"

Yubel smiled softly at her soul partner. "There's more to you than meets the eye, Jaden Yuki."

The brunette smirked. "A lot more."

The boy looked straight down and saw the silver hair of Aster and then noticed the rest of the gang around him. They were listening intently to what the boy had to say and then Syrus asked him something. Aster paused and smacked his forehead.

Zane closed his eyes and Jaden was able to pick up, "We wanted you to talk to him because we thought you would be hard for him to distract. You usually have a knack for picking apart lies, Aster. How could you let him get away?"

"Shit," Jaden said.

"I'll go find him and beat some sense into the slacker!" Chazz yelled. Everyone in the vicinity gave him a startled glance.

Jaden noticed Atticus start to slip away from the main group. Alexis's crazy brother stopped and looked straight up, his eyes locking on Jaden's. "Shit," Jaden repeated now that he had been found.

But Atticus did not turn around and warn the others. He simply made 'wait for me' motions with his hand at Jaden and vanished from sight. Jaden sighed audibly.

"Should we run?" Neos offered. "We could fly you out of here."

"Thanks, Neos. But I'm going to have to face him eventually."

The teen appeared, not alone, but with a very famous someone as well. Jaden felt Yubel, Neos, and Kuriboh stir in surprise as Pegasus was half-dragged towards him by an animated Atticus.

"Umm… hi?" Jaden chanced, confused. "What are you doing here sir?"

"Well Jaden-boy," Pegasus started, sounding not at all annoyed, more amused. "Chancellor Sheppard called up Kaiba and informed him of the cryptic message. Kaiba sent some of his top duelists and employees to Duel Academy for protection and I heard of this through the grape vine and managed to make it onto the boat to offer more protection. I have grown quite fond of all the students here, and I don't wish for anyone else to be harmed."

"Oh," Jaden weakly answered.

"But enough of that. Mr. Rhodes here informed me of your latest adventure into the Dark World and apparently wishes for me to talk to you since you won't to any of your friends."

"Did he now?" Jaden formally replied sending death glares at Atticus, whose response was to smirk, but then took a step back.

Pegasus laughed, "Now don't hate the young man for telling me Jaden-boy! I already knew of your adventures in the Dark World through Sheppard. But there is something I do want to know from you."

Jaden braced himself for questions about Haou and Yubel.

"How did you open the portal to get back to Earth?"

Atticus did a face-vault behind him, apparently, that's not want he wanted Pegasus to pry from Jaden. Jaden, however, paled considerably. How he opened the gate and controlled it had to do with _everything_ that was happening now.

_Did Pegasus know that? Or was it just a lucky guess?_

Atticus recovered from kissing the floor when Jaden remained silent and watched as his sister's boyfriend fidgeted nervously. _Could Pegasus have asked the right question after all?_

Pegasus saw that his question made Jaden uncomfortable, so he did what his impulses told him to do. He put a supportive hand on Jaden's shoulder. The boy recoiled from his touch immediately, surprising him.

Yubel was speaking rapidly into Jaden's ear, warning him that Pegasus would be able to sense the darkness swirling beneath his skin if he touched Jaden, being the creator of the cards from the different worlds. Sure enough, the card-designer's eyes narrowed and he observed Jaden in new light.

 _That's strange,_ he thought, watching Jaden watch him. _I never felt something that… sinister… in Jaden-boy before… I wonder if this is the presence of Haou that I feel… but something tells me it's something else…_

Neos was scrutinizing Pegasus warily. He turned towards Jaden in a foreboding way. "He knows."

Jaden bit his lip to prevent a cry of frustration. _Why can't I keep this one thing secret? The only thing that I need to keep!_

"Mr. Rhodes," Pegasus slowly spoke, his voice no longer cheery. "Will you please excuse Jaden and me for a moment? I wish to speak to him alone."

"Sure, Mr. Pegasus," Atticus replied, a little stunned when Pegasus didn't add 'boy' at the end of Jaden's name.

Jaden glared coldly at Atticus, and the older teen could have sworn that he saw a glint of gold in those brown eyes, but when he looked again, it was gone.

"What?!" Pegasus exclaimed when Jaden finally told him his story. It had taken quite a lot of prying and degrading to force the explanation from the reluctant boy. However much strange experiences Pegasus had been through in his life, he had never even come close to something like this. Now he understood that sinister edge that Jaden had about him. Jaden was being protective of his friends and those he cared about, which is why he hadn't told them.

And that sinister part was not Haou. Jaden had reluctantly told the card-designer that he and Haou _had_ been combined into one whole for a brief period, and in that time span, he had had complete control over his sinister secret. But ever since that day in the gate, even though Haou had denied that it was him who injured Jaden, Jaden and Haou had become separate souls again, unable to combine no matter how hard they tried.

"Jaden-boy," Pegasus whispered, lending support to a Jaden who looked completely exhausted. "If it costs you that much just to tell me… if you had to fight that hard… what will happen when you arrive on Nhime?"

The boy shook his head. "Dunno."

"Is it wise for you to arrive there? We are only an hour away now, you and Ms. Rhodes were out for quite awhile," Pegasus said.

"Oh, right. How is she?" Jaden sighed. But he didn't recoil from the man's touch this time. He already knew after all. "I'll be… ok in Nhime Village. I've still got Melody there… Nick will make it worse, but he's 18 now so I don't even know if he's still there or if he went off to college already."

"Are they like you?" Pegasus wondered.

"Melody's not… at least I don't think she is. Nick's like my opposite… His dark side is always showing, and his good side is hidden, I mean. He's an idiot," Jaden snarled that last part. Pegasus raised his eyebrows.

"Is there still something you're not telling me?"

"Yes," Jaden simply answered. "It's personal issues."

Pegasus sighed dramatically. "I'm going to go speak to your friends."

"What?!! No! Didn't I just explain to you why they can't know!" Jaden paniced.

"Calm down, Jaden-boy, calm down. I agree with you that they shouldn't know more than they need to. But they need to be aware enough of the impending danger that you are in. Is there anything that you told them about before that I should know about?" Pegasus pondered, returning to his normally cheery attitude.

Jaden's duel spirits decided to appear before the designer in solid form. Pegasus didn't even jump, which impressed Jaden. "So these are you links, eh Jaden-boy?"

He bobbed his head up and down.

"We'll explain what has already happened, I don't think Jaden has to strain himself anymore," Neos commanded, which Jaden was thankful for. He simply slid down against the wall and leaned his back against it. He hadn't actually expected that he and Haou had to _fight_ against his stupid secret in order to tell someone about it. And that process drained him.

 _"Kuri, kurrii, kur-rri! (Don't worry Jaden, you'll be fine in a little while!),"_ Kuriboh insisted.

He smiled wearily as Yubel explained the messenger's attack, the mermen, and talking with Aster. Pegasus listened closely and clapped his hands twice. By the time that he had been caught up to speed, Jaden was feeling loads better. Well, physically anyway. He felt uneasy about someone else knowing his secret, but Pegasus could look after himself after all.

"I'll simply tell them that I pried an explanation out of you," Pegasus insisted. "And that is that your father died at the hands of the messenger and the mermen were there trying to stop it, seeing as they are natural enemies. They befriended you and your mother and tried to console you, but then they had to go back to their world after a few years to help with the war between them and Evermore. And they remembered that you are a deadly duelist and even found out about your flip side, Haou, and both worlds are in desperate need of powerful duelists to win these life and death duels, so they are targeting you and anyone who would try and protect you from them, which is why you were reluctant to tell them any of this."

"To bad they aren't only fighting with duel disks," Jaden wryly input. "But otherwise it's sweet. That's perfect. But I should come with you; I think it would make it more believable."

Pegasus looked concerned. "Can you really handle all of this Jaden-boy?"

"I don't know," he truthfully answered. "Oh, and Pegasus?"

"Yes Jaden-boy?"

"Thanks," Jaden said, bowing his head slightly.

The man chuckled and steered Jaden down to the lower deck to confront his friends. It was (thankfully) a quite conversation where Pegasus did most the talking and Jaden avoided eye-contact with Alexis, knowing that she would want to hear it from him before deeming the story plausible.

"So…" Jesse whistled, a bit overloaded. "Jaden, you're the target of two completely different worlds that are intertwined with you since you were little?"

Jaden nodded, locking his eyes with the bluenette. "Pretty much."

"Anyone else sick and tired of other worlds?" Chazz whined.

Everyone raised their hands sheepishly, even Zane who had a slight smile on his face ever since Jaden had healed his heart issues.

Jaden grinned, once again stunned by how much his friends still trusted him. They all gave Jaden words of encouragement for the remaining time on the boat, especially Alexis who seemed to finally forgive his frosty attitude with the look that says you-were-being-a-jackass-but-I-forgive-you. He accepted her warm embrace, the memory of her telling him that she had sensed his secret that day in the meadow fresh in his mind.

The boat stopped and they all took out the luggage that Chancellor Sheppard had someone bring on the boat for them. They took in the quaint little town that had grown into an almost city with animated looks. The sun was reflecting off the ocean and gave everything a glittering look. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was a pleasant breeze hitting them in the faces.

Then, of course, something went wrong.

There was a sound like a car slamming on its brakes coming from in front of them.

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!"

Jaden had just enough time to look up and then something with brown hair and red streaks slammed into him and knocked him over.

Alexis and Jesse deployed their duel disks, expecting it to be another weird creature. Jaden laughed, surprising Jesse and the others.

"Hey Melody! You've grown up!" he chuckled.


	11. Angel of the Guardian?

"Jaden!" Melody gleefully shouted. "I'd recognize that hair and those eyes anywhere!"

"It's nice to see you too, Mels." Jaden laughed, calling her by her pet name.

"DON'T CALL ME MELS!" she hollered in his face. "I HATE it when you do that!"

She got off of her cousin, who wore a grin that practically went from ear to ear. "That's why I call you that, Mels. Any-way," Jaden rushed on when fire appeared in her eyes, "these are some friends of mine! Melody, meet: Jesse, Jim, Axel, Aster, Atticus, Zane, Syrus, Hassleberry, Bastion and Chazz. And this is my girlfriend, Alexis Rhodes."

Alexis smiled and offered her hand towards Melody. The younger girl shook it and locked her eyes on Alexis. They were a cute pink color. Now that she wasn't attacking Jaden, they could all take her in clearly.

 _She clearly has the Yuki's good-looks,_ Alexis thought absently.

The girl was as tall as Alexis. Her bangs were shaped like an uneven M and had two streaks of red in the longer one and a single one in the other. Her hair was tucked in behind her ears and still had red streaks running through the brown too. She had Jaden's eye-shape and that same sparkle of laughter in her eyes. Her lashes were longer though and her cheeks had a rosy hint to them.

She was pale otherwise and also shared Jaden's athletic build. She was wearing a purple tank-top (the school appropriate 4-fingers type) with a bright green ¾ length shirt beneath it. She wore a simple jean skirt that ended half to her knees. She wore one green and purple glove on her right hand and a purple anklet on her left ankle. Her shoes were green flip-flops.

This all looked surprisingly good on the girl and she had Chazz practically drooling over her. The girl saw Chazz checking her out and smacked him over the head quickly. "Quit drooling Romeo." the teen said levelly while everyone sweat-dropped.

"I _never_ thought I was going to see you again, Jaden!" Melody continued. "After you and Nick fought last time..." She trailed off and blushed as if she had let something slip. "But you've got to come visit us after you guys get checked into wherever it is you're staying! Mom can't wait to see you! Dad's away on a business trip and Nick's checking out a college campus, so neither of them will be around."

Jaden sighed inwardly when he heard that Nick wasn't around.

 ** _Are you sure?_** Haou wondered. **_I feel... something... something's not exactly right here._**

_Of course you feel like that Haou, we're being tailed by two vicious different worlds who want to use us for world domination._

**_I'm not so sure._** Haou did sound uncertain for once. **_It feels like the gate here. That thing that actually stabbed us... I think that's what I'm sensing... It feels so much like our own darkness though... this is strange, not knowing what will happen._**

 _Welcome to my life,_ Jaden replied, wrapping his arms around Alexis from behind. She relaxed completely in his arms and Jaden felt his own pulse become steadier instead of panicky.

They all managed to arrive at the hotel without any disasters larger than Chazz throwing a fit when he found out that they had to carry their own luggage to their rooms. Melody joined in with Alexis to shut him up by whacking him repeatedly with Alexis' hair dryer.

Jaden gave a small smile and Zane observed all of this with his usually bored expression. "If we're done beating each other up now, lets go to our rooms."

He walked off with Aster and Atticus, his roommates, trudging behind him with bemused expressions. Atticus started walking backwards so he could wave at the receptionist, who was a pretty girl about 19 years old, before crashing into the elevator doors when Zane and Aster failed to warn him.

They did think to laugh though. Jaden felt his anxiety start to wear off a little. They weren't traveling by sea so now the merpeople couldn't do anything to harm them, like taking another one of his friends with that stupid 'Soul Scepter'.

_Funny how the last time I spoke to Adria she told me to stay away from the 'Soul Scepter' and never use it because it was dangerous._

**_More ironic really._** Haou put in his two-cents. _**But Jaden, I think that we are in even more danger here than anywhere else except for Evermore and Everlost.**_

_Why?_

**_Your cousin is_ ** **here. _I can feel it, can't you?_**

Ok, so Jaden did still feel uneasy, but he assumed that was because Pegasus knew his secret and was likely to be a target. If he got hurt, if anyone got hurt, because of him again...

_We'll be extra careful then, but why don't you want to meet him? You seemed to be all for joining the dragon-girl._

**_The dragon-girl was not a threat, my other half. Both of us know that. We could use just the smallest amount of our power, not even our secret, to overcome her. Then we would be free. But your cousin... I think that he has something similar to us... similar, but not the same._ **

_If only I could remember what happened that day I lost control with Nick... Do you?_

**_No. It was neither of our personalities acting then Jaden. Our... separation had been weakened by the guard's medallion. That whole scene was beyond our control; our secret could leak out while the separation remained weak, so long as we weren't connected like we are now. When Nick pushed you to the limit of your already waning control... that was the end... if your little cousin here hadn't have been able to snap us out of it... well, we wouldn't be talking now._ **

Jaden was suddenly aware that Melody was half-pulling him towards the elevator. Alexis held his hand and was talking to Mindy and Jasmine, who had appeared out of nowhere to talk to their other roommate.

"See you in a few Lex." Jaden said as Melody pulled him up to his room. Jaden barely had enough time to grab his luggage before Melody slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Mels?" Jaden asked. The girl looked like she was close to tears. She suddenly had Jaden in a death-grip again, but she was sobbing this time. Jaden wrapped his arms around his cousin in what he hoped was a comforting way.

She muttered something incoherent.

"Shh, shh, Melody, it's ok." Jaden coed, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Jaden!" she wailed. "I can't believe I almost lost you!"

He held her closer, trying to make her stop crying. "You didn't lose me Melody, I'm right here."

"No! You were gone for two months, Jaden! Two damn months!" the girl cried. "And when you came back you almost died! Your mom called my mom for the first time in over ten years, and it's because you're dying! You're dying and she can't even go see you because of her job! She cried, I was listening, and I was so scared that I was going to lose you Jaden! And the last time we met was when we were little kids... that wasn't exactly the picture perfect memory either! Your mom moving away so suddenly with you, not wanting to have to deal with the horrible memories that she had here... Not seeing her sister-in-law for ten years! I was so worried about you! I knew that your mother didn't exactly know what happened when you and Nick tried to kill each other, but she knew that Nick was dangerous so she ran away before I could warn you!"

"Warn me of what?" Jaden asked, feeling sorry for Melody.

"Nick... you know after we spied on you and the merpeople when you snuck out that night?" Melody whimpered.

Jaden nodded slowly. "And what happened afterwards... well most of it anyway." He couldn't forget that fearsome shade of violet Nick's eyes had become.

"Nick meant what he said." Melody whispered. "When he saw the mermaids, he thought they were weak, since they had saved you. He wants to root them all out... and... he's not looking at some college campus right now, Jaden. He's in Evermore. Nick is **_him_**."

Jaden stopped stroking Melody's hair. "What?"

She nodded in his shirt. "It's true. I know everything that he's been trying to do to get you... well almost everything. He sent that messenger in the hopes that destroying your friends would get you angry enough to lose control again so he could step in and whisk you away to Evermore to tame and basically be manipulated by that medallion Adria talked about, the one she said caused your power to wake up for a moment, but that the guards didn't know how to properly use it to control you. He's looking for it. He hasn't found it yet, it went missing after you blew apart the Everlost Castle. But Jaden," she said, looking panicked, "I'm confused. I don't know which side I should be on, it would be dangerous both ways. If I make it clear that I'm on your side, which I am by the way, then he'll use me to get to you. And we both know that you won't let anyone be sacrificed for you."

Sacrificed... That word rang clear in Jaden's head. The memory of his friends disappearing came flying back at him...

_Flashback_

_"Ahh! Jaden! Why do you mean to sacrifice us in order to save Freed's friends?" Hassleberry demanded, screaming in pain._

_"No... it's not! Hassleberry!" Jaden cried out._

_"It's painful. This isn't only physical pain, but the pain whose spirit is betrayed by a friend!" Atticus outburst._

_"Atticus..." Jaden said._

_"I have to carry the sadness of being betrayed by you..." Alexis said. If anything, that broke Jaden's heart._

_"Alexis! No... No... No!!" Jaden hollered in agony._

_His friends screamed as the Wicked Doctrine texts left their bodies and they turned into particles of light, howling in pain... it was that sound that haunted him the most._

_End Flashback_

"Jaden?" Melody was shaking him. He refocused his eyes onto hers, she looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

Jaden shook his head, trying to clear it of that painful memory. "Nothing... just remembered something..."

The girl didn't press him. "You should act neutral around Nick." Jaden suggested after some forethought. "He wouldn't do anything to hurt you if there was no reason... you are his little sister after all."

Melody was still frowning, but she wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve and bit her lip like she always did when she was thinking. "You're right." she admitted. "I just wish we could help **_him_**... save **_him_** from **_himself_** , you know?"

Jaden gave her a small smile. "If there's a way, I'll find it. I promise."

"Sorry for going to pieces on you there, Jay." Melody said.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Jaden exclaimed, wanting to brighten the mood a bit.

"What?" Melody jumped.

"Why do you get to call me Jay and I can't call you Mels?" Jaden sweetly wondered. She laughed and thumped him on the back of the head.

"Because I said so." Melody announced.

"You sound like your mom." Jaden laughed.

"Do not!" Melody argued back, but couldn't quite manage to be angry. Jaden's attitude was usually contagious.

She dragged him back outside, still chuckling. "We're going over to my house now!" she announced to Jaden's friends. "So anyone who wants to come, err, come?"

They all followed Melody, Jaden and Alexis linking arms, Chazz fuming again, Jasmine and Mindy squealing "Aww! Kewt!", and the rest of the gang trying not to laugh at Chazz's expression.

They arrived after about seven minutes on foot, Melody calling out important features like a tour guide while Jaden started to daydream, only to be abruptly awakened by Haou warning him that the dark presence was getting nearer.

 _Oh no, don't tell me Nick's home,_ Jaden silently groaned.

 ** _He won't try anything with so many witnesses._** Haou assured his other half.

_Since when do you try and comfort me?_

**_Since I can't control you anyway, might as well make it easier on my more conscious half to be alert instead of with our head in the clouds._ **

"And here we are!" Melody said with a flourish of her hands.

Jaden smiled, it was the same way as when they had left it. It was sitting by the beach, a small tri-level stone home with plenty of windows and a balcony overlooking the ocean. The front door opened on cue and Jaden's aunt swept out to greet them, hugging every single one of them. She gave Jaden an observant look and said, "You've grown up!"

"Yeah, we tend to do that." Jaden agreed. "So how's everything going Aunt Cathie?"

"Splendid." his aunt replied, bustling them all in the house.

Dread and fear hit Jaden like lightning even before he stepped over the door. Haou was right, Nick _was_ here. Jaden looked up at the table.

There was a man with short, spiky black hair and piercing blue eyes. He glanced up at Jaden, who froze in place. They stared at each other for a full three minutes before the man stood up and held out his hand towards Jaden, who looked positively frightened. "Hello cuz, long time no see," Nick Yuki said in a low and dangerous voice.

Melody immediately knew the danger with Nick's appearance. His friends, of course, were oblivious, and thus, in danger. Before Jaden could decided whether or not to take Nick's hand, Melody flung herself onto Nick crying out, "Big brother!"

Jaden blinked as Nick's eyes become a shade darker. Melody removed herself from his grasp and stood between him and Jaden. Mrs. Yuki was looking from Nick to Jaden, obviously worried. Mindy and Jasmine got one look at Nick and then they had hearts in their eyes.

"Hi," they breathed at Nick, who smirked. He gave them a casual two-fingered salute and they fainted to the floor.

 _What do I do? What do I do?!_ Jaden repeated in his mind, which once again, seemed frozen along with his body.

 ** _Stay calm, first off, I'll take over for now._** Haou input.

 _Ohhhh, nooo you won't._ Jaden replied, but he suddenly felt as if he was floating. He could still see everything perfectly, and he could tell his eyes were brown because his friends didn't freak, but Alexis did stiffen at his side and look at him.

Jaden found it suddenly easy to arrange his face. Nick didn't seem so frightening anymore. Sure, just another evil, power-crazy megalomaniac. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Nick's eyes flashed violet quickly. So he could feel Haou too? Big whoop.

"So how was the college?" Haou asked through Jaden's mouth, trying to keep things under control. His voice did have a cold edge to it that Alexis picked up.

Nick's gaze shifted from Alexis to Jaden a few times. Then a sinister smile that belonged in a horror movie appeared on his face. "Hello angel, now who might you be? A friend of Jaden's here?" he wondered in that deadly tone.

Jaden's protective personality seeped through Haou's clear face. _He wouldn't!_

"Don't call me angel unless you want to wake up a woman tomorrow." Alexis snarled. Something just wasn't quite right about this guy. The look Jaden gave him when he walked in... and that sinister something that reappeared in Jaden now...

"So you're Jaden's angel then?" Jaden caught the phrasing and Haou reacted.

"Does that really matter, Nick?" Haou asked through Jaden's clenched teeth.

 ** _Calm down!_** He snapped at Jaden.

_I can't! If she says it, he'll know that she's the real deal and not just some phase! Then he'll kill her without batting an eyelid!_

**_Or he'll control you through her. He'll hurt her if you don't listen to his commands. Jaden, she's not safe. You have to break your ties with her! This is the only way to protect her and the rest of our worlds!_ **

_I know... I've known it all along... but I wasn't strong enough... she caught me off-guard._

**_Now we're running and screaming._ **

Alexis looked slightly offended.

"Whatever." was Nick's casual, non-threatening response? But then he used that voice that only Jaden and his army could hear. **_"But I will find out."_**

Melody seemed to hear him, because she cringed at the cruelty in her brother's voice. "Nick..." she whispered softly.

Nick stood up abruptly and left in the twilight. Jaden and Melody watched him go with an uneasy feeling. The rest looked confused.


	12. Fallen

Jaden stood out on the hotel balcony, lost in his thoughts.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

_"Melody," he had said. "how did Nick overthrow **him**...?" _

_"He killed **him** , Jaden. Nick killed **him** after you left." Melody whispered. _

_"He was only-!"_

_"Eight, I know. Nick seems to have more power than he lets on... what are you going to do about Alexis?" Melody answered._

_"I won't put her in danger."_

_"Can you handle that Jaden?" Melody asked, concerned._

_That was the second time someone asked him that today. And he still didn't have an answer._

_"I don't know… but if she gets hurt because I was too weak to let her go..."_

_"Love isn't a weakness Jaden." Melody whispered._

_~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~_

"Hey Mindy, is Alexis in there?" Jaden was at Alexis' room, talking to Mindy who opened the door.

"She's in the shower." Mindy yawned. "Do you want me to tell her that you're here?"

Jaden shook his head no. "I'll talk to her in the morning."

But could he really? It had taken every single ounce of strength he had to knock on her door...

Jaden kneaded his forehead with his palms. He had had a massive headache since Haou had 'helped' him this afternoon. His other half hadn't been in a talkative mood either.

Jaden hadn't exactly tried to talk to him though. He had been focused on giving Alexis the cold shoulder all day. It raised a few eyebrows, but she was angry at him, so it worked.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

_"If that's the way you're going to treat me, then maybe you should find a new girlfriend!" she snapped at him under her breath when he had flinched away from her touch for the billionth time._

_"Maybe," Jaden agreed. "I'm getting sick of mine."_

_Okay, he knew that was low and harsh. Atticus was ready to strangle Jaden by this_ _point and Alexis just looked hurt. Her face was pictured perfectly in his mind, looking so betrayed..._

_~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~_

Something warm was sliding down his cheek. Jaden felt it gingerly. It was a tear! _He was crying for Pete's sake! And he hadn't even done the worst thing to her yet!_

**_"Love isn't a weakness Jaden."_ **

_Well it is to Nick, and he'll use it. I can't afford to be weak... the world can't afford me being weak..._

"Jaden?" a voice said from right behind him. He leapt a good foot into the air.

Jaden whipped around. It was Zane. "Hey Zane." Jaden said, his voice shaking a bit.

The older boy took in Jaden's appearance warily. Jaden imagined he must look like a disaster. He hid his eyes from Zane quickly.

Zane frowned and approached Jaden. "What's wrong?"

Jaden turned away, knowing his voice would shake if he answered again.

He felt Zane staring at him. "Why are you acting like that around Alexis, Jaden? Do you want to end your relationship?"

_No. But I have too._

"..." Jaden remained silent as he fought back more tears. He didn't see Zane reach out and put his hand on his shoulder, so he jumped again.

"What is wrong with you Jaden?" Zane demanded in his even tone.

_Everything._

"If it's the whole cross-dimensional war, you don't have to worry. We'll protect you."

"No!" Jaden exclaimed, springing up.

Zane looked smug. "I guess you do know how to speak after all."

"Don't fight them, Zane. **Please!** I don't want you guys involved!" Jaden begged.

"Is that why you're breaking up with Alexis? To protect her?"

"No." Jaden snarled.

"But you are leaving her?"

Cue the water-works.

"Are you crying Jaden?" Zane said, sounding concerned. "You can talk to me you know."

"Damn it, Zane! Just leave me alone!" Jaden shouted and walked away. He heard Zane sigh and start to follow him. Jaden weaved through the village based on instincts, very aware that Zane was trailing him. Well, he wasn't going anywhere that would be meaningful to Zane, so he let him follow. Jaden stopped at the same place he had fallen when he was seven.

The whirlpool was gone, so that means the gate was closed and no unpleasant drop-ins from merpeople for awhile. Jaden touched the new railing gently, feeling the cold steel on his skin.

"Jaden?" Zane approached him again. "Talk to me."

"Why?" Jaden snapped.

"You can trust me Jaden. You revived me and healed my heart. I owe my life to you." Zane slowly answered.

Jaden snorted loudly. "You don't owe me anything. It was my fault you died in the first place."

"Yes, because you forced Aster and I to follow you into the Dark World and you forced me to electrocute myself in underground dueling and you forced me to challenge Yubel. When you look at it like that, it's all your fault." Zane sarcastically replied.

"This is none of your business Zane." Jaden said in a deadly voice. Zane flinched, alarmed. He peered into Jaden's hidden eyes, obviously wondering if they were gold. Let him wonder.

"If it involves Alexis, it is. She's like my little sister Jaden. If the only reason you want to leave her is because you're trying to protect her, that decision is going to come and bite you in the ass. Whether by her or by Atticus, I can't tell you. You'll suffer too, like you are now." Zane threatened.

"Stop giving me crap and go bother someone else Zane." Jaden replied icily.

"Just listen to me Jaden. I'm not trying to bother you or threaten you. I'm giving you the facts." He sighed when Jaden turned away from him, emitting hostility. "Just don't make a choice you'll regret for the rest of your life, Jaden."

With that, the man walked away.

_Finally!_

**_Aren't you the least bit concerned about what he said?_ **

_Yes, I am. Oh, hi Haou, nice of you to drop in._

**_Ha-ha... You're scared._ **

_..._

**_Jaden..._ **

_Yeah..._

**_Can we do this to her?_ **

_'We'?_

**_I am a part of you Jaden. So naturally I am affected by your decisions._ **

_Fine. We have too. To protect her... to protect everyone..._

"Hey Jaden." Alexis said, sounding a bit waspish. They were standing in a pretty desolate clearing towards the outskirts of town. She was glaring at him, obviously still mad about how he had been acting all afternoon, flinching away from her and jumping down her throat every other second.

"Hey." he replied, his voice steady. His resolve was set. He had to do this.

"So what did you call me here for?" she wondered.

"I needed to talk to you about..." _Why is it so hard to say that word?!_ "...us."

Alexis was all ears. "Well?" she said impatiently. Her eyes were sparkling, hinting at her real feelings.

"Alexis... I..." Jaden started, grasping for the resolve he had seconds ago, but had left him when he saw that she was about to cry. _Was he making the right choice?_

 ** _Yes, we are._** Haou assured him. Yeah, like that was reassuring.

But then his duel spirits agreed with him in his head and Jaden knew it had to be done. He just couldn't be so... so like Nick to Alexis. He didn't want to hurt her! But...

He **had** to do it! He had to put Alexis out of danger! No matter how many times Jaden told himself that, he couldn't force the words to come. She was just standing there, his perfect little angel, waiting for him to speak. Finally, Haou added some of his coldness into the equation and Jaden could speak again. He turned to his love, his heart with finality and strength, "I'm leaving you. I don't love you. I never have."

Alexis just gazed up at him. "Then all of this... everything that happened between us... what was that?"

"I'm sorry if you thought it was love. I didn't think of it as that at all. You're..." Jaden almost lost Haou's cold edge with this next phrase. "a phase."

He could tell that that hurt her, but she continued. "You told me you loved me, in more than just words Jaden. You gave me yourself; you were always so passionate about me. You can't fake something like that."

"I wasn't faking then. Now, I don't want you like that anymore. You're nothing to me." Jaden insisted, hating himself, but knowing he had to make Alexis hate him too... to protect her from Nick...

"You're breaking my heart." Alexis whispered, sending a shard of ice into Jaden's own damaged heart. "Don't you feel anything?"

"My heart can't break if it wasn't there in the first place." Jaden replied levelly. She was still looking into his eyes. Now a single tear was present in her eye. It fell slowly down her cheek and landed onto the earth as if in slow motion. Jaden wanted to give in, to comfort her, to tell her everything... but he would be dooming her if he did.

"You're right about one thing Jaden. You're just a phase. I'm waiting for my Jaden to come back." Alexis answered clearly through her tears that flowed freely now. "Maybe someday he will, but until then, you're not worth it."

Jaden blinked. "Don't hold your breath."

"If you really don't love me, then walk away. Just go Jaden or whoever you are." Alexis whimpered, closing her eyes tightly.

"Goodbye Alexis." Jaden whispered before he turned away. He hadn't lied when he said his heart wasn't breaking, his heart was dissolving. It felt like it was being torn apart by fire, leaving nothing behind but ashes.

His breathing came out very shallow as Alexis stood still and started to sob. That's when all hell broke loose in Jaden's mind. His grief and hatred towards Nick and himself started tearing apart at the seams that held his secret in check.

 ** _Jaden! We have to get out of here!_** Haou commanded from his mind, forcing their legs to move faster.

Jaden could feel it slithering free and winding around his consciousness, tearing it apart, wanting out. Wanting to destroy. His vision was distorted, but he could prevent it from breaking free... he just needed someplace away from here to stop...

**_We have to move. If you lose it here, she'll get hurt and what we just did will be for naught._ **

Jaden started to full-out run when he rounded the first house he came to, charging through the crowds of DA students and tourists, past startled workers and others. His feet carried him to the cliff, which was mercifully empty since the whirlpool's absence wasn't attracting attention. He gripped the railing so tightly that his knuckles turned white and he was sure that his eyes were gold, but that didn't matter.

_We got away... we got away... she's safe... we got away... we got away from her..._

The fiery pain that had engulfed his heart spread across his chest and weird images were flashing before his eyes. Mostly creatures and people that he didn't recognize... Alexis' face, hurt, alone, crying, appeared before him again and this time tears rolled down his cheek.

How could he have done something like this to her? He had hurt her beyond repair... she was broken and he just left her there...

His fists clenched the railing even tighter as his secret leaked out more and more, devouring his mind and thoughts. The railing turned to putty in his grasp and Jaden knew he had to get away... he had to get away... he had to get away...

He turned and ran, not knowing where he was going, just that he needed to get away. He needed to leave this world. He needed to be somewhere, anywhere, else!

Haou directed Jaden towards an alley so now they were making their way past mazes and a few residents who knew the shortcuts.

 ** _Just a little farther._** Haou promised.

Something in the back of his head reminded him not to trust Haou so completely, but he didn't particularly care. He needed to get away...

 ** _Here! This is where we can escape! Help me open the portal before it's too late for us!_** Haou demanded.

Jaden barely heard him. He twisted at what little self-control he had left and manipulated the smallest amount of his power that he could. He ran through the small circular red-white-gold portal as fast as he could before the fire in his head obliterated everything. He caught sight of a destroyed little village before he fell to his knees with his hand over his heart.

 _"_ Alexis!" he screamed, making her name echo across the empty Dark World. He heard her name echoed over and over again before he lost control of his own body and everything disappeared in a brilliant gold-white light.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"You have failed me, Atrus." a cold, dangerous voice whispered. It came from a throne in shadows in front of the merman. "I think that should result in your parent's deaths, don't you?"

"No!" Liz shrieked, sobbing again. "Please, Your Highness! Have mercy on them! We tried to capture Jaden, but he was too powerful! We did what you told us to do! We acted like we betrayed him... we hurt him! We made his power less stable! Please, we had a deal! You said you wouldn't kill our parents if we confronted him!"

"Your Highness," Adria begged, actually deciding not to make it sound like an insult this time. "she is right. You said that you would release them if we helped you. We cannot leave to torment him again for a while... please just let them go."

There was a high, cold laugh that sent shivers down their spines. "Guards!" called the Queen.

The shark creatures came into view with a mermaid in their arms. She was a young mermaid, around forty years old, and she twisted away from their grasp to sweep up the mer-children in her arms.

"Serena!" they all cried and held her.

"Atrus, Liz, Adria. You're alright!" she exclaimed.

"Now," the Queen continued. "I did not bring you here to deal with reunions. I brought you here to show these children what happens when they fail."

The guards advanced on Serena, who pushed the children behind her.

"No! Don't hurt her!" Atrus panicked, trying to get around Liz's mother.

"Mom!" Liz hollered as another guard restrained the children.

"Leave her alone! Please! We'll capture Jaden! We'll do anything! Please don't hurt her!" Adria pleaded.

"Yes, you will do anything I please. But you must be punished first." the Queen laughed evilly as the guards advanced on Serena.

The mermaid turned towards her friends and child with her last words. "I love you all. Never stop fighting for what's right. Stay strong."

Then with a quick move of the guard's tapered fingers, Serena was gone forever.


End file.
